The Nurse's Role in Acknowledging Women's Emotions of Unmet Breastfeeding Expectations.

Many women face difficulties with breastfeeding that result in the inability to meet their breastfeeding goals. These unmet breastfeeding expectations can have a negative impact on women's mental health in the postpartum period. Evidence from the literature shows a knowledge gap with regard to nurses' roles in emotionally supporting these women. In this commentary, I present findings from the literature regarding women's unmet breastfeeding expectations and discuss how these findings translate to the proposed need for nurses to have an increased focus on a woman's emotional state and to offer emotional support as it relates to a woman's breastfeeding expectations.