Parenting Journal · Volume 1 · Issue 5 · Licensed source edition
Breastfeeding support for Australian hospital employees: a qualitative study
Originally published 2026-04-13 · International Breastfeeding Journal
BMC · DOI 10.1186/s13006-026-00834-9 ↗
Working-family evidence
Work, care and the whole person.
Explores pumping realities, coworker negativity, worry and guilt in a hospital, making kindness concrete in routine team behavior.
Directly examines work and family life, parenting, caregiving or employment policies for families.
Editorial reading guide · Kindness
Does a parent have to feel guilty to take a lactation break?
Explores pumping realities, coworker negativity, worry and guilt in a hospital, making kindness concrete in routine team behavior.
Study context
13 nursing, medical, allied-health and administrative hospital employees in Sydney, Australia.
Age / stage: Adult employees who returned to work while breastfeeding.
Read with three questions
- How did employees describe the gap between formal policy and daily experience?
- What forms of coworker negativity or support appeared?
- Which structural changes would avoid relying only on individual persistence?
Keep the limits in view
A small volunteer sample at one hospital reflects experiences rather than prevalence or causal effects; participants who maintained breastfeeding may differ from those who stopped.
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Original authorship, publication date, journal and DOI are preserved. This issue’s TRICK placement and reading questions are editorial additions, not claims made by the original authors.
Lynne Henry; Virginia Schmied; Elaine Burns (2026). Breastfeeding support for Australian hospital employees: a qualitative study International Breastfeeding Journal. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13006-026-00834-9
Permissions checked against the saved article notice; repository publication notices screened 2026-11-05. This is not a new peer-review decision. The source authors and publishers are not represented as endorsing this issue.