Maternal Psychosocial Factors that Affect Breastfeeding Adaptation and Immune Substances in Human Milk

Kim, Eun Sook; Jeong, Mi Jo; Kim, Sue; Shin, Hyun A; Lee, Hyang Kyu; Shin, Kayoung; Han, Jee Hee

doi:2014.20.1.14

Korean J Women Health Nurs > Volume 20(1); 2014 > Article

Original Article

Korean Journal of Women Health Nursing 2014;20(1):14-28.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4069/kjwhn.2014.20.1.14 Published online March 31, 2014.

Maternal Psychosocial Factors that Affect Breastfeeding Adaptation and Immune Substances in Human Milk

Eun Sook Kim, Mi Jo Jeong, Sue Kim, Hyun A Shin, Hyang Kyu Lee, Kayoung Shin, Jee Hee Han

¹Graduate School, College of Nursing, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea. gungdeange@naver.com
²College of Nursing, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.
³Nursing Policy Research Institute, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.

Abstract

PURPOSE
This study was to identify relationships of maternal psychosocial factors including mother's mood state, childcare stress, social support and sleep satisfaction with breastfeeding adaptation and immune substances in breast milk, especially secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) and transforming growth factor-beta 2 (TGF-beta2).
METHODS
Data were collected from 84 mothers who delivered full-term infants by natural childbirth. Structured questionnaires and breast milk were collected at 2~4 days and 6 weeks postpartum. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation, multiple linear regression, and generalized estimating equation (GEE).
RESULTS
Scores for the breastfeeding adaptation scale were significantly related with child care stress, mood state and social support. Mother's anger was positively correlated with the level of sIgA in colostrum (p<.01). Immune substances of breastmilk was significantly influenced by time for milk collection (p<.001) and the type of breastfeeding (sIgA, p<.001, TGF-beta2, p=.003). Regression analysis showed that breastfeeding adaptation could be explained 59.1% by the type of breastfeeding, childcare stress, the Profile of Mood States, emotional support and sleep quality (F=16.67, p<.001).
CONCLUSION
The findings from this study provide important concepts of breastfeeding adaptation program and explanation of psychosocial factors by immune substances in breast milk. Future research, specially, bio-maker research on breast milk should focus on the ways to improve breastfeeding adaptation.

Key Words: Breastfeeding; Human milk; Adaptive behavior; Immunologic factors; Psychosocial factors