Body Image Dissatisfaction, Breastfeeding Experiences, and Self-Efficacy in Postpartum Women with and Without Eating Disorder Symptoms.
Hillary M Kapa, Jennifer L Litteral, Sarah A Keim and 3 others
PMID 35139671WHAT IT FOUND
Postpartum women with clinically significant eating disorder symptoms reported lower confidence in breastfeeding and were less likely to be breastfeeding at 2 months.
They also had greater body image dissatisfaction, especially appearance concerns and weight worry.
Key findings
01Twenty participants, 9.8% of the sample, reported clinically significant eating disorder symptoms on the EAT-26.
02Participants with clinically significant eating disorder symptoms were more likely to report not breastfeeding at 2 months, had shorter breastfeeding duration, and had lower adjusted breastfeeding confidence.
03Breastfeeding experience was not associated with clinically significant eating disorder symptoms in unadjusted or adjusted models.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The sample was mostly white, married, and highly educated, and it was recruited through volunteer networks, so the results may not apply to more diverse or lower-income postpartum women. The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that eating disorder symptoms or body image dissatisfaction caused breastfeeding difficulty, or how these problems changed over time. The EAT-26 is a screening measure, not a diagnostic interview, and it did not identify specific eating disorder diagnoses. The researchers altered the verb tense of breastfeeding confidence and experience measures to include women who had stopped breastfeeding, which may affect how directly those scores can be compared. No a priori power analysis was conducted, and the sample size was modest, so findings should be viewed as exploratory.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, or publication of this article.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these associations as proof that eating disorder symptoms cause breastfeeding difficulty. The study is cross-sectional, and the EAT-26 screens for symptoms rather than diagnosing an eating disorder.