Table 4.

Barriers to Breastfeeding.

Physical concerns:

Q1. “Even the second time around hurt worse than the first. And I was just, had I not breastfed my first child I don’t know if I would’ve made it to the second time around.” (Higher socioeconomic status [SES])

Q2. “I was in so much pain I was almost in tears.” (Higher SES)

Q3. “She wasn’t latching on right. If you latch on right, it don’t hurt. It’s only when they don’t latch on properly that it hurts.” (Lower SES)

Q4. “I don’t need no extra sagging [of the breasts] to make it worse than it is.” (Lower SES)

Q5. “I wasn’t producing the milk.” (Higher SES)

Q6. “I don’t breastfeed because I’m a smoker …” (Lower SES)

Q7. “I planned to breastfeed and I take Synthroid … and that’s going to go into the baby and I preferred to go with something that I felt more comfortable with, which was formula.” (Higher SES)

Lack of support by employers, family, friends, and society:

Q8. “I went back to work, and then it was just too much. I couldn’t handle it.” (Higher SES)

Q9. “You can’t do it [breastfeeding] in public. They think it’s nasty …” (Lower SES)

Q10. “Two of my girlfriends have just recently had children absolutely refused to breastfeed and they think it’s disgusting.” (Higher SES)

Q11. “Like I really felt like I didn’t have any support in the breastfeeding thing and… I felt like I was not being the right mother to my son …” (Higher SES)

Q12. “And my infamous mother-in-law has strong feelings about breastfeeding; it’s the opposite of what I would have expected. I had challenges with that too, where I didn’t want the baby to have formula because I was pumping and then the baby would be sent home with a bottle with formula in it. I’m like, why am I wasting my time pumping at work in the middle of the day when she’s giving the baby formula?” (Higher SES)

Q13. “His dad didn’t want me to do it. I just think because it was something that I wanted to do I should have been allowed to do it and been at peace with doing it, but with dad being there and they baby’s crying and he’s not latching on, ‘just give him the milk.’” (Higher SES)

Lack of belief that breastfeeding is better than formula:

Q14. “I don’t really think it makes a difference [re: intelligence].” (Lower SES)

Q15. ”My 2 year old, she is bottle-fed and she is highly smart.” (Lower SES)

Q16. “Our kids are healthy, you know, they got the formula or whatever, there’s nothing wrong with them, you know there aren’t any major issues so …” (Lower SES)

Q17. “I was formula-fed myself so …” (Lower SES)