Do mindful pregnant women intend to breastfeed longer? Empirical evidence on mindfulness, wellbeing, and intended breastfeeding duration

Introduction: Breastfeeding plays an important role for mothers’ and child’s health. The aim of this study was to examine the association between mindfulness facets (observing, describing, acting with awareness, non-judging, and non-reactivity), psychological well-being, and breastfeeding intention during pregnancy. Methods: Participants were 193 pregnant women aged 21–47 years (M = 33.59) took part in a crosssectional study by completing a questionnaire. Path analysis was performed to examine the relationships among the research variables. Results: Path analysis showed that non-judging of thoughts and feelings, describing experiences with words, and letting feelings come and go without reacting were positively related to psychological well-being; non-judging and observing internal and external experiences were positively related to breastfeeding intention. Differently from our hypothesis, psychological well-being did not mediate the relationship between mindfulness and intended breastfeed duration. Discussion and Conclusion: This research was the first one showing that some mindfulness abilities are significantly associated with pregnant women’s intention to breastfeed. Care providers should consider that support for breastfeeding might include strategies that focus on inviting women to adopt a non-judgmental style and increasing observing their internal and external experiences during pregnancy. Take-home message: Different Mindfulness abilities were associated with pregnant women’s wellbeing and intended breastfeeding duration. Describing and non-reacting were positively related to psychological well-being, while observing was positively related to breastfeeding intention. Nonjudging was significantly associated with both variables.