Hayley Lockerbie and Konstantina Martzoukou from Robert Gordon University presented a literature review on the everyday life experiences of breastfeeding mothers. The World Health Organisations recommends that babies should be exclusively breastfed for 6 months, however worldwide breastfeeding rates are quite low, and social attitudes are a major barrier. The review aimed to discover how mothers learn about breastfeeding, the formal and informal sources they use, when information is sought ( pre or post nata), what the barriers they experience, and how they can be better supported. Martzoukou assets that the boundaries between environments where we develop IL are fluid, and that people transfer competencies from one domain to another, it is an ongoing activity of knowledge construction, deconstruction and knowledge extension within converging contexts. This is the information literacy “mindset” it is individual and collective.
The review searched information science databases and healthcare databases, and extracted 30 relevant articles in 2017. Key themes are information overload, and a variety of informal and formal sources are beneficial. Embodied experiences are important in this context. There is a lot of conflicting and outdated advice, even from health professionals and this leads to a loss of trust. Online environments and social media are important sources. There is a lack of realism in the information available to mothers, and the media has a problematic portrayal of breastfeeding.
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