International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology

Vol. x, No. x, (2019), pp. xx-xx

Mothers’ Experience in Weaning The Child

Melly Nirma Syahriani1, Ismarwati2

Health Sciences Department of Master Program Aisyiyah University of Yogyakarta

Mellynirmas4@gmail.com, Ismarwati@unisayogya.ac.id

Abstract
Weaning is a process that is done in stages, where the beginning of this process is to
reduce the frequency of breastfeeding to stop breastfeeding. The World Health
Organization (WHO, 2015) recommends that babies should receive exclusive
breastfeeding until the age of 6 months and continue until the age of 2 years. The method
in compiling this scoping review is to use the Arksey and O'Malley guidelines. The
results obtained from 8 articles found that there are methods used in weaning children
including the BLW (Baby Led Weaning) and TW (Traditional Weaning) methods.
Psychological mothers such as feeling anxious, worried, sad are feelings that are usually
felt by mothers when weaning their children. Factors affecting weaning include the level
of parental education, information dissemination from health workers, norms and
culture. The theme discussed in this review is the mother's experience in weaning the
child, which includes the method used in weaning the child, the mother's psychological in
weaning the child, and the factors that influence weaning.

Keywords: Mother's experience, Weaning child

1. Introduction
Weaning is a process of stopping breastfeeding gradually or at the same time which
can be caused because it is time for the child to stop breastfeeding or because the mother
has a specific reason so she must stop breastfeeding her child, or both parties have certain
reasons related to it . Weaning is a process that is done in stages, where the beginning of
this process is to reduce the frequency of breastfeeding to stop breastfeeding. World
Health Organization (WHO) determined to give ASI to newborn babies until the age of 2
years accompanied by supplementary feeding [1].
Breastfeeding starts from babies born to six months and continues until the age of 2
years. Increasing breastfeeding rates worldwide can save more than 820,000 children
under the age of 15 years or toddlers. In addition to improving children's survival,
breastfeeding also supports healthy brain development associated with higher
performance in intelligence tests among children and adolescents. If weaning is done
before the child is 2 years old, this results in insufficient nutrition given to the child. The
impact of weaning by using the wrong way will result in bonding attachments that have
been established between mother and child during breastfeeding will be disrupted so that
the child will feel rejected by his mother. In addition, weaning by applying betadine to
the nipples can cause the child to become poisoned [2].
In the 12-17 month age group, the percentage of children who are breastfed and
consume complementary foods is 74%. Meanwhile, the percentage of children who are
not breastfed at the age of 18-23 months is 41%. While the World Health Organization
indicator (WHO, 2015) recommends that babies need to receive exclusive breastfeeding
during the first 6 months of life and continue until the first and second years of life. In
2011, as many as 26.7% of infants in the United States were breastfed until 12 months of
age, an increase from the previous that is 22.7% in 2006 [3].

ISSN: 2005-4238 IJAST

Copyright ⓒ 2019 SERSC
International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology
Vol. x, No. x, (2019)

Most mothers do weaning using traditional methods. The most popular traditional
method used by mothers is by giving nipple discomfort, for example those from aloe vera
plants (Subra Murra), using alternatives as pacifiers, giving red substance, or coffee on
the nipples [4]. Some mothers think that breastfeeding is a good symbol in being a
mother. Feelings of worry, anxiety, and destruction usually occur when a mother weans
her child. Psychological mothers in this case are things that need to be studied so that
weaning can be done appropriately [5].
Factors affecting weaning included education level of the parents, local cultural
norms, information from health workers, and weaning time [6]. Breastfeeding weaning
done in less than two years can affect the consumption of breast milk in infants because it
can cause nutrients and proteolytic substances contained in breast milk can not be
absorbed by the child's body so that it can interfere with the digestive process and
increase the growth of microorganisms in the digestive tract [7]. The average age of
weaning that occurs is when the child is less than 2 years old [8]. Weaning which is done
when the child is less than 2 years is usually influenced by pre-existing cultural factors
because maternal beliefs play an important role in determining the mother's own behavior
towards weaning practices [9].
.Research on weaning children has been done in developing countries and developed
countries, including in research conducted by (Spyreli et all (2019), Arden & Abbot
(2015), Sammour et all (2012). From research conducted The results show that the
mother's experience in weaning can be seen from the factors that affect weaning, the
method used in weaning, and the mother's psychological weaning.Lowing and weaning is
an important domain in children's health, however, in reality the attention of the provider
health services related to weaning are still limited [10].

2. Method
This review uses a grouping review method with guidelines from [11] which has five
stages. The stages carried out in the review scoping review consist of:

2.1 Identifying Research Questions

The scoping review is the researcher's focus on the scoping review question, namely:
How is the mother's experience in weaning the child?

2.2 Identifying Relevant Studies

2.2.1 Eligibility Criteria
In selecting relevant articles, researchers determine the inclusion and exclusion
criteria that will be sought and used as a source of scoping review. The inclusion and
exclusion criteria are presented in Table 1 as follows:

Table 1. Framework Criteria of Inclusion and Exclusion

Inclusion Criteria Exclusion Criteria
1. Articles published between 2010-2020 1. Review / comment article
2. Articles in English 2. Opinion articles
3. Primary research or review articles
published in peer-review journal
4. Report documents/policy draft/WHO
guideline/ certain formal organization
5. The research conducted at developing
and advanced countries

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2.2.2 Database
The tools used to find relevant articles in compiling this scoping review are 4
databases, namely Wiley Online Library, Ebsco, Science Direct, and Pubmed.
2.2.3 The Strategy of Searching the Data and Keywords
There are several stages in searching the paper / article to be used. The first stage is
searching for papers in general in several databases. Second, after getting keywords, the
next process is to look for papers in the pubmed, sciencedirect, wiley and ebsco
databases. The keywords used to look for papers in pubmed are (("experience mother"
OR "experience mom") AND "last 5 years" [PDat] AND Humans [Mesh]) AND
((cessation) OR weaning) OR discontinuation) AND " last 5 years "[PDat] AND Humans
[Mesh])) AND ((childern) OR toddler) OR child under five years) AND" last 5 years
"[PDat] AND Humans [Mesh])).
2.3 Article Selection
From the search of 4 databases and reference lists, 458 articles were obtained in which
121 articles were double deleted so 337 articles were obtained. Of the 337 articles,
screening was conducted based on the title and review of the articles related to the
mother's experience in weaning the child so that 65 articles were obtained. Filtered again
to get the appropriate article and obtained 55 articles. A fulltext search of 55 identified
articles was carried out to filter the contents of the article where the filtering was based
on inclusion and exclusion criteria. From the results of filtering the contents of the
article, the suitability of the population, the method, and the results then obtained 8
articles which are then used for Scoping review. The flowchart prism is explained in
Figure 1.
Identification

4 databases search results

Pubmed = 162
Science Direct = 88
Ebsco = 46
Wiley = 113
n = 458
Sceerining

Duplicates studies removed (n = 121) Irrelevant studies (n = 282)

Studies excluded
Tittles and abstracts identified (n=337) (n= 47)
Eligibility

Full-text screened (n = 55)

Studies included (n = 8 )
Included

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Figure 1. Prism Flowchart.

2.4 Data Charting
Data charting conducted by researcher is sorting, outlining the results of the selection
in the form of tables which are grouped into the name of the author, year of publication,
country, research design, number of samples and results. It is explained in Table 2.
Table 2. Data Charting

No. Author/year/ Study Design/ Results

country/grade methods/sample
1 Toyama, 2014, Quasi- The failure and success of
Japan, A Experimental baby feeding does not depend
with interviews on the interaction of the type
of solid food for the baby
2 Bewket Zeleke et Cross-sectional Child age, education,
al, 2017, Ethiopia, with interviews husband's support , and
A weaning facilities are among
the factors that influence the
mother in weaning the child
3 Spyreli et al, 2019, Qualitative with In the weaning method the
UK, A Focus Group mother must make it a habit to
Discussion provide healthy food to her
(FGD) child. The habit of giving food
to children and relevant
mother's knowledge about
providing balanced nutrition to
children is one of the factors
that influence mothers in
weaning children
4 Arden & Abbott, Qualitative with The method used by mothers
2015, UK, A interviews in weaning their children with
the BLW (Baby Lead
Weaning) method is carried
out by providing an
introduction of healthy solid
food for their babies. Feelings
of sadness, brokenness,
anxiety felt when a mother
weans her child.
5 Abu Hamad & Cross-sectional The method used by mothers
Sammour, 2013, by giving out in weaning children with
Ghaza, A questionnaires traditional methods.
6 Baturin, 2011, Cross-sectional The method used by the
Rusia, B using a mother to wean the child is
questionnaire, BLW (Baby Lead Weaning)
2,500 mothers by giving juice, fruit, cereal,
were randomly and cow's milk used by the
selected mother for the first weaning.
7 Amy Brown & Cross-sectional The method used by mothers
Lee, 2011, UK, A with interviews, in weaning children is BLW,

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36 mothers who namely by providing

had children aged introducing complementary
12-18 months. foods.
8 Tarrant et al., 2010, Longitudinal Weaning is done by giving
Hongkong, B cohort with 1417 breast milk with a period of
mothers who one month before weaning.
have babies.

2.5 Arranging, Summarizing, and Reporting The Results

In this step the researcher compiles, summarizes, and reports the results of research
based on the steps taken by [12]. First, it provides a descriptive numerical analysis that
includes the number of articles, the year of publication, and the type of study. Second,
look for strengths and weaknesses in the literature identified through thematic analysis of
the studies included in the report. The final phase of this stage is a review of the
implications of the findings in relation to research.

3. Result and Discussion

3.1 Method used for weaning
Based on research by [13] that discusses the method used in weaning, namely BLW
(Baby Lead Weaning), is done by giving all kinds of food to children. Based on research
by [14] which discusses that the first food after weaning is juice, mashed fruit, and
porridge. Based on research by [15] mothers using traditional weaning methods is by
giving an unpleasant substance (aloe vera, medicine, lipstick, tomato sauce) to the
mother's nipples.
These traditional methods and approaches as previously discussed in the literature
[16]. The Department of Health (2009) recommends starting to introduce complementary
foods to babies when they are 6 months old. The introduction of complementary foods is
done gradually and adjusted to the tastes of the baby. The texture of the food provided is
also adjusted to the age of the baby with ingredients based on family food. In addition,
mothers also need to look for signs of readiness for complementary food [17] in infants
when they start entering the age of 6 months.

3.2 Mother’s psychological in weaning

Based on research [18] states that the "I'm worried especially if he will not get enough
iron". Mother’s psychological in weaning children can create a bond between mother and
child where when weaning children, emotionally mothers will feel feelings of anxiety
and worry because they have to stop breastfeeding their children [19]. For some people,
breastfeeding is a symbol of being a good mother and thus stopping breastfeeding may
make mothers feel they are not good mothers [20]. Parental attachment is an approach to
parenting, reportedly based on the principles of attachment theory that focus on
developing strong parent-child bonds [21]. When a mother wants to wean her child, she
feels sad feelings and negative feelings. This is because breastfeeding is a symbol of
kindness, affection, approach and trust that increases bond between mother and child
[22].

3.3 Influential factors in weaning

Factors that influence the weaning of a child are included in the article belonging to ...
namely the child's age, family size, occupation [23]. Children whose fathers are
government employees, are about six times more likely to be weaned by age than those

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whose fathers work alone or are day laborers [24]. Studies conducted in different settings
show a significant relationship between work and education on age-appropriate feeding
in different ways [25]. P Research conducted in Burkina Faso and Indonesia revealed that
the work of parents in agriculture and unemployed parents was a risk factor for not
receiving an acceptable minimum diet. This contradicts research conducted in Guinea,
Niger and Bangladesh which revealed that children whose father is a farmer will receive
food recognition according to age of eating compared to those whose fathers work in the
non-agricultural field. This difference might be due to the study area and population
variations [26].

4. Conclusion
Based on 8 articles found, the method used in weaning is divided into two methods
namely the Baby Led Weaning (BLW) and Traditional Weaning (TW) methods. In the
process of weaning, the psychological mother will usually tend to feel sad, anxious,
broken because she is not ready to wean her child. Factors influencing weaning include
the level of parental education, cultural norms and information from health educators.
The literature gap in the review of this article is that WHO recommends that mothers
should wean when children are 2 years old, whereas in reality, the average weaning is
done when the children are <2 years old.

Acknowledgement
The author would like to thank Mrs. Ismarwati for all guidance, feedback, suggestion,
and motivation given for the completion of this article.

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The Author
Melly Nirma Syahriani, Student of Master Degree in Midwifery University of ‘Asyiyah
Yogyakarta.