Is " 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding" appropriate and effective advice from the WHO? - a discussion.
Introduction The World Health Organisation recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a child's life, and continuous breastfeeding for the first two years of life (WHO, 2023). This recommendation is based on copious evidence pertaining to the long-term health benefits of breastfeeding to both mother and child ( Ibid. ). In discussing how appropriate this advice is, and how effective it is in improving public health, this essay examines a case study by Charlick et al. (2017), as an example of the successful fulfillment of this advice to demonstrate the complexities of the lived experiences of women breastfeeding in Australia. Charlick et al. (2017) conducted an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) on their interviews with the exceptional case of Violet, first-time breastfeeding (BF) mother in Australia who was successful in breastfeeding exclusively for 6 mont...