The seeking of baby-feeding information by Canadian women pregnant with twins.
OBJECTIVE
To analyse baby-feeding information needs and seeking described by Canadian women pregnant with twins.


METHODS
Qualitative; data were collected by in-depth semi-structured interviews. Transcripts provided the data for discourse analysis of the use of two interpretative repertoires.


METHODS
Ontario, Canada.


METHODS
19 women pregnant with twins.


RESULTS
The first interpretative repertoire represented caring for twins as fundamentally distinct from caring for singly born babies, and therefore emphasised the commonality of mothers of twins regardless of their background or situation. The second highlighted the uniqueness and individuality of each person. These repertoires intersect with discourses of baby feeding and good mothering, resulting in a complex discursive interplay of similarity and difference, commonality and individuality, information seeking, baby feeding and good mothering. Participants used the two interpretative repertoires to (1) frame information needs; (2) construct complex accounts of the biomedical, experiential and personalised authority of information sources; (3) describe the helpfulness of information sources independent of their authority; and (4) describe the barriers encountered in the finding appropriate sources of baby-feeding information in pregnancy.


CONCLUSIONS
Understanding and respecting the discursive constructions of pregnancy and mothering can help practitioners understand the complex discursive interplay underlying participants' baby-feeding decisions, and may facilitate more sensitive support for women's individual needs and understandings.
McKenzie
Pamela J
PJ
Faculty of Information and Media Studies, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5B7, Canada. pmckenzi@uwo.ca
D000328:Adult; D001942:Breast Feeding; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007224:Infant Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D007225:Infant Food; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008880:Midwifery / Q000379:methods*; D009035:Mothers / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009864:Ontario; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods; D011247:Pregnancy; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014427:Twins