Maiko Kozakura
Women’s Power Support Kozakura Maternity Hospital, Japan
Title: Pre- and post-natal care to maximize utilization of oxytocin in breastfeeding
Biography
Biography: Maiko Kozakura
Abstract
Oxytocin is a hormone that promotes a calm postpartum mental state. It is produced proportionally to the amount of breast milk secreted. Breast milk is part of a wonderful system that can enhance women’s sense of femininity, relaxation and promotes self-reliability. Although 98% of Japanese pregnant women wish to breastfeed, only 51.3% are actually breastfeeding at 1 month after birth. At 3 months after birth, this figure remains at 54.7%. Apparently, reasons for this figure being lower than the number of women who want to breastfeed include problems with feeding experienced by 69.6% of women (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Outline of Results of 2015 Infant Nutrition Survey). These problems include uncertainty as to whether she is producing enough breast milk, somewhat insufficient breast milk production and feeling that breastfeeding is a burden. These results suggest that Japanese women feel that breastfeeding is an everyday occurrence and good for the baby and that the nuclearization of families has meant that mothers have fewer opportunities to discuss and receive support regarding their anxieties and worries in a familiar setting. This is a disadvantage as it means that there is one less option for calming mothers in the postpartum period. Therefore, community-based midwifery centers specialized for the perinatal period play an important role.