Breastfeeding is the natural, healthy and simplest way of feeding newborns and babies. Many
mothers face difficulties in establishing and maintaining breastfeeding when they come home.
For good breastfeeding practices, mothers need quality information, practical support and
assistance, and appropriate conditions. With the increasing use of smartphones and widespread
access to the web and social media, online communities and online support groups have become
the new form of access to information. The purpose of this diploma thesis is to investigate,
through an integrative literature review, the reasons why mothers seek information about
breastfeeding in online support groups, the advantages and disadvantages of using such groups,
and the extent of trust they place in the information obtained from these groups. Based on search
of literature in bibliographic databases, inclusion and exclusion criteria, eight scientific articles
were included in the analysis, which dealt with the researched topics. I found that breastfeeding
mothers sought support from female users online, either when they felt isolated and without
professional support, or because they preferred to look for information online in general. Online
support groups provide them with an easily accessible community, first-hand experience of
other mothers, empowerment and normalization, all of which result in greater breastfeeding
success.
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