PURPOSE: The purpose was to explore the breastfeeding experiences of mothers of infants with breast-feeding or breast milk jaundice. METHODS: In-depth qualitative interviews and content analysis were conducted with nine mothers of newborns with breastfeeding and/or breast milk jaundice who breastfed their babies during the first year postpartum. RESULTS: Mothers' experiences can be described in four phases and six themes. (1) Prenatal stage: build breastfeeding belief, i.e., breastfeeding is best and a natural behavior, without awareness of neonatal jaundice; (2) stage after neonatal jaundice started to appear: include two themes, questioning beliefs in breastfeeding and happiness in being a mother. Mothers lacked knowledge and ignored the threat of neonatal jaundice, mainly focused on their physical discomforts and worried about insufficient breast milk; they also felt an intimate mothereinfant bond through breastfeeding; (3) stage when newborns had confirmed diagnosis of breastfeeding or breast milk jaundice that required medical attention: include two themes, diagnosis of breastfeeding or breast milk jaundice and phototherapy caused negative emotions and regaining original beliefs about breastfeeding. They struggled through emotional swings and inconsistent advices about whether phototherapy and formula supplementation are needed. Then, they decided breastfeeding or breast milk jaundice is only temporary and retrieved initial beliefs of breastfeeding. (4) Stage after neonatal jaundice faded and mothers continued breastfeeding: insisting and adapting. CONCLUSION: Breastfeeding mothers were unaware of neonatal jaundice until medical attention was required; they experienced physical and mental distress and gradually learned to manage jaundice while insisting on breastfeeding through their breastfeeding beliefs and happiness in being mothers.
Anxiety ; Breast Feeding ; Breast ; Diagnosis ; Happiness ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Jaundice ; Jaundice, Neonatal ; Milk, Human ; Mothers ; Phototherapy ; Postpartum Period ; Qualitative Research

OBJECTIVE: This study strived to evaluate the relationship between degree of pulmonary emphysema and cardiac ventricular function in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) using electrocardiographic-gated multidetector computed tomography (CT). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Lung transplantation candidates with the diagnosis of COPD and PH were chosen for the study population, and a total of 15 patients were included. The extent of emphysema is defined as the percentage of voxels below -910 Hounsfield units in the lung windows in whole lung CT without intravenous contrast. Heart function parameters were measured by electrocardiographic-gated CT angiography. Linear regression analysis was conducted to examine the associations between percent emphysema and heart function indicators. RESULTS: Significant correlations were found between percent emphysema and right ventricular (RV) measurements, including RV end-diastolic volume (R2 = 0.340, p = 0.023), RV stroke volume (R2 = 0.406, p = 0.011), and RV cardiac output (R2 = 0.382, p = 0.014); the correlations between percent emphysema and left ventricular function indicators were not observed. CONCLUSION: The study revealed that percent emphysema is correlated with RV dysfunction among COPD patients with PH. Based on our findings, percent emphysema can be considered for use as an indicator to predict the severity of right ventricular dysfunction among COPD patients.
Adult ; Aged ; Electrocardiography ; Female ; Heart Ventricles/radiography ; Humans ; Hypertension, Pulmonary/complications/*diagnosis ; Lung/radiography ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multidetector Computed Tomography ; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive/complications/*radiography ; Pulmonary Emphysema/complications/*radiography ; Regression Analysis ; Ventricular Function/*physiology