Objective: To identify environmental barriers to breastfeeding.
Method: Focus groups were conducted with young women, parents-to-be, mothers, fathers and grandmothers in 1996 in northern Adelaide, South Australia (a low socio-economic area).
Results: Seven focus groups (4-8 participants per group) were conducted. Breastfeeding was seen as being embarrassing to do in public, and not possible to combine with paid employment. While fathers were not supportive of their partners breastfeeding in public, health professionals were seen as strong advocates of breastfeeding. Bottle feeding was perceived to be more convenient for the mother, more acceptable in public but not as good as breastfeeding for the baby.
Conclusion: An environmental that enables women to breastfeed is far from being achieved in this low socio-economic area, particularly in relation to breastfeeding in public.
Implications: Breastfeeding promotion should have a public health focus, concentrating on creating a supportive breastfeeding environment through a multi strategy approach aimed not just at mothers but also at the community.