Adolescent mothers face numerous challenges while breastfeeding. This study aimed to assess the breastfeeding needs of adolescent mothers. For this systematic review, Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, SID and Magiran databases were searched. The initial search yielded 2,290 studies, of which 41 were included in this review. Adolescent mothers\' breastfeeding requirements were grouped into 8 categories: (1) social support from healthcare providers, partners and families; (2) school support for breastfeeding mothers; (3) breastfeeding counselling based on cultural sensitivities; (4) educational assistance from health providers for adolescent mothers\' families; (5) changing harmful cultural values and judgments about adolescent mothers\' breastfeeding; (6) additional home or outpatient visits in the days following hospital discharge; (7) peer support and counselling; and (8) economic needs. To promote breastfeeding, policymakers and healthcare providers should devise specifically tailored programmes and interventions to cater to the specific requirements of adolescent mothers.

BACKGROUND: Integration of maternal mental health into primary health care is considered a strategy to improve access to mental health support in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Health care workers\' (HCWs) and traditional practitioners\' (traditional healers, herbalists, traditional birth attendants, spiritual healers, prophets, and community health volunteers) perceptions of the availability and management of adolescent mothers\' maternal mental health care were explored in rural Malawi. Recognizing and identifying the barriers associated with access to maternal mental health support is essential to improving the mental health of adolescent mothers.
METHODS: A descriptive qualitative design (DQ) was used to explore HCWs\' and traditional practitioners\' perceptions of maternal mental health services for adolescent mothers. In-depth interviews were conducted with HCWs (n = 6), and three focus group discussions were conducted with 30 community-based traditional practitioners. Participants were purposefully recruited because they provide formal or informal health services to adolescent mothers during the postnatal period at Mitundu Rural Hospital and its catchment area in Lilongwe District, in Malawi. Interviews were analyzed using reflective thematic analysis and inductive thinking.
RESULTS: Thematic analysis found four themes to describe access to maternal mental health care for adolescent mothers. Participant perceptions were themed around health system challenges and how cultural background and beliefs influence access to mental health care and support. The themes were: (1) Inadequate staff development; (2) Limited resources (medication and infrastructure); (3) Limited policy and guidelines implementation; and (4) Cultural background and belief influence on help-seeking. HCWs suggested improving pre-service and in-service training to improve mental health assessment of mothers, while traditional practitioners wanted to increase their awareness of mental health issues.
CONCLUSIONS: Participants emphasized that multifaceted factors influenced access to mental health support. These factors affect the assessment, treatment, and support of adolescent mothers and help-seeking by mothers. Therefore, strengthening the healthcare system and empowering providers with the knowledge and skills to recognize at-risk mothers and provide timely support is essential.

Background: The alarming prevalence of teen mothers\' exposure to perinatal intimate partner violence (IPV, 8.3-67%) and attachment disorders (ADs) among their children is a global concern, especially in sub-Saharan Africa with high teenage pregnancy rates. This study, therefore, aimed to examine the link between teen IPV and AD in their offspring. We sought also to explore the mediating roles of postpartum depression symptoms, maternal sensitivity, parenting stress, and perceived social support in the relationship between perinatal IPV and children\'s ADs.Method: This cross-sectional study selected a random sample of 309 teen mothers from Nyanza district. This sample size was determined using Yamane\'s formula, with random sampling. Various instruments were used for data collection, including questionnaires on intimate partner violence, social support, maternal sensitivity, postpartum depression symptoms and parenting stress and early trauma-related disorders. The data was analysed using SPSS, with mediation analyses performed using the PROCESS macro (version 4.1).Results: IPV was found to be significantly associated with attachment disorders. Simple mediation models showed that parenting stress completely mediated these relationships, while postpartum depression, perceived social support, and maternal sensitivity partially mediated the relationship between IPV and children\'s ADs. In parallel mediation model, the combined roles of all mediators fully mediated the associations between IPV and ADs.Conclusion: These findings offer valuable insights in designing or strengthening the appropriate interventions to prevent and mitigate the perinatal intimate partner violence and its detrimental impact on children\'s attachment disorders. Combating intimate partner violence in post-conflict situations is challenging in teen mothers, however, our results suggest that efforts to address maternal mental health and parenting practices may protect children from attachment disorders.
Parenting stress was identified as a significant mediator, fully mediating the relationship between perinatal IPV and children\'s attachment disorders.Postpartum depression, perceived social support, and maternal sensitivity partially mediated the link between perinatal IPV and children\'s attachment disorders.The study underscores the necessity for multifaceted support programmes for adolescent mothers to address IPV, alleviate parenting stress, and enhance maternal mental health and social support, promoting better attachment outcomes for their children.

BACKGROUND: Worldwide, a significant number of girls become mothers during adolescence. In Bangladesh, adolescent childbirth is highly prevalent and has adverse effects on children\'s health and undernutrition. We aimed to identify the relationship between the undernutrition of children and adolescent motherhood, the factors associated with adolescent mothers\' age at first birth, and to examine the programmatic factors and gaps influencing children\'s undernutrition in Bangladesh.
METHODS: We analysed the \'Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey\' BDHS-17-18 data and desk review. To examine the factors associated with adolescent motherhood and its impact on child undernutrition, data from 7,643 mother-child pairs were selected. Child stunting, wasting, and underweight were measured according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) median growth guidelines based on z-scores - 2. Univariate, bivariate, simple, and multiple logistic regressions were used for analyse. We followed the systematic procedures for the literature review.
RESULTS: Approximately, 89% of adolescents aged ≤ 19 years were married and 71% of them gave their first childbirth. Children of adolescent mothers (≤ 19 years) were significantly 1.68 times more wasted (aOR: 1.68; 95% CI: 1.08 to 2.64), 1.37 times more underweight (aOR: 1.37; 95% CI: 1.01 to 1.86) and either form 1.32 times more stunting, wasting or underweight (aOR:1.32; 95% Cl: 1.05 to 1.66) compared to the children of adult mothers (> 19 years) after adjusting potential confounders. The factors associated with mothers\' first childbirth during adolescence were the age gap between husband and wife 5-10 years (aOR: 1.81; 95% Cl: 1.57-2.10) and age gap > 10 years (aOR: 2.41; 95% Cl: 1.96-2.97) compared with the age group < 5 years, and husbands\' education (aOR: 1.29; 95% Cl: 1.04-1.61) compared with the uneducated husbands. In the literature review, we found potential gaps in focusing on the Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (ASRH) program in Bangladesh, from thirty-two programmes only half of them focused on adolescents aged 10-19 years, and eleven programmes focused only on girls.
CONCLUSIONS: Children of adolescent mothers are at risk of wasting, underweight, and any form of undernutrition. For effective policies and interventions in Bangladesh, it is important to emphasise delaying adolescent pregnancy and prioritising child undernutrition.

BACKGROUND: In Rwanda, maternal community health workers play a critical role to improving maternal, newborn and child health, but little is known about their specific experiences with adolescent mothers, who face unique challenges, including trauma, ongoing violence, stigma, ostracism, mental health issues, barriers within the healthcare system, and lack of access to the social determinants of health. This study explored the experiences of maternal community health workers when caring for adolescent mothers in Rwanda to inform the delivery of trauma- and violence-informed care in community maternal services.
METHODS: Interpretive Description methodology was used to understand the experiences of 12 community health workers purposively recruited for interviews due to their management roles. To gain additional insights about the context, seven key informants were also interviewed.
RESULTS: Maternal community health workers provided personalized support to adolescent mothers through the provision of continuity of care, acting as a liaison, engaging relationally and tailoring home visits. They reported feeling passionate about their work, supporting each other, and receiving support from their leaders as facilitators in caring for adolescent mothers. Challenges in their work included handling disclosures of violence, dealing with adolescent mothers\' financial constraints, difficulties accessing these young mothers, and transportation issues. Adolescent mothers\' circumstances are generally difficult, leading to self-reports of vicarious trauma among this sample of workers.
CONCLUSIONS: Maternal community health workers play a key role in addressing the complex needs of adolescent mothers in Rwanda. However, they face individual and structural challenges highlighting the complexities of their work. To sustain and enhance their roles, it is imperative for government and other stakeholders to invest in resources, mentorship, and support. Additionally, training in equity-oriented approaches, particularly trauma- and violence-informed care, is essential to ensure safe and effective care for adolescent mothers and to mitigate vicarious trauma among maternal community health workers.

BACKGROUND: Adolescent pregnancy is a main health concern in relation to adolescent mothers and their neonates especially in deprived areas.
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore the experiences of adolescent mothers who live in deprived marginal areas in Urmia in Iran.
METHODS: This qualitative study was conducted in 2022-2023 using the conventional content analysis approach. Participants were eighteen adolescent mothers purposefully selected from healthcare centers in marginal areas in Urmia. Data were gathered via semi-structured interviews and were analyzed by the conventional content analysis method proposed by Graneheim and Lundman.
RESULTS: \'\'Staying out of the life normal routine\' was the main theme consisted of four categories \'forced early marriage\', \'experience of abuse\', \'learned helplessness\', and \'impulses of hope under the shadow of motherhood\' and five sub-categories role conflict, lifelong regret, attachment, reviving the lost self-value and the delight of family establishment.
CONCLUSIONS: Based on the results of the study health care providers, especially midwives, will be oriented to deal with adolescent mothers to help them to have successful transition to motherhood.

UNASSIGNED: The aim of this article is to describe the problem of pregnancy in girls under 15 years of age in the Dominican Republic in the period 2000-2021, to develop a specific indicator for this age group and describing the related factors.
UNASSIGNED: This is an exploratory ecological study, based on secondary data sources, such as birth records from the National Statistics Office (NSO) and the Ministry of Public Health (MPH). We calculated the rates of fertility and pregnancy in early adolescence, as well as analyzed their main determining factors and consequences.
UNASSIGNED: Fertility Rate in Early Adolescence (FREA) decreases from 6.27 to 1.04 per thousand in the period 2001-2021. The average FREA for 2015-2021 was 1.78. The average Estimated Rate of Pregnancy in Early Adolescence (ERPEA) for the same period was 3.39. Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) were 11,620 years. Years of Life Lost (YLL) were 9,665.9 years. The prevalence of Low Birth Weight (LBW) in the under 15-year-old age group was 14.2 %.
UNASSIGNED: Pregnancy in childhood implies risks for both the mother and the child, including low birth weight. The official fertility rate is substantially underreported (2.84 vs. 1.79).The fertility rate indicator traditionally used does not accurately measure the number of pregnancies in women, particularly in specific age groups or populations where pregnancies may be interrupted by various factors. Therefore, the use of ERPEA is recommended.We emphasize the need for implementing the proposed indicator for the target group, as well as monitoring Sustainable Development Goal indicator 3.7.2.

UNASSIGNED: Breastfeeding has a positive impact on child and maternal health outcomes. Black and Latina women and adolescent mothers have lower rates of breastfeeding initiation and continuance in the U.S. Maternal depression and psychosocial stressors may contribute to reduced rates of breastfeeding. The current study aims to better understand behaviours and associated factors related to breastfeeding in a diverse group of adolescent mothers attending a teen-tot clinic for postpartum and infant well care.
UNASSIGNED: Participants were 191 mother-infant dyads. Mother\'s age ranged from 13 to 25, and 54% of mothers identified as Latina, 22% Black, 11% more than one race and 5% white. Demographic information and breastfeeding behaviour were abstracted from the medical record. Rates of postpartum mood/anxiety symptoms and psychosocial stressors were obtained from screening measures completed at medical visits.
UNASSIGNED: Analyses revealed that 87% of adolescent mothers in the sample initiated breastfeeding at birth and the racial/ethnic breakdown of those mothers closely mirrored the overall population (58% Hispanic or Latina, 17% Black, 10% more than one race, 5% white). At 2 months postpartum, only 41% of the population was still breastfeeding. Mothers with significant mood/anxiety symptoms at the newborn visit were more likely to be breastfeeding at the 1- and 2-month visits. Mothers with psychosocial stressors at the newborn visit were less likely to be breastfeeding at the 1- and 2-month visits.
UNASSIGNED: Efforts to promote health equity through breastfeeding for at-risk mothers must occur within the first few weeks postpartum and must consider associated factors including postpartum mood/anxiety symptoms and psychosocial stressors.

UNASSIGNED: The Family Nurse Partnership is an intensive home visiting programme for adolescent mothers. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Family Nurse Partnership on outcomes up to age 7 using national administrative data.
UNASSIGNED: We created a linked cohort of all mothers aged 13-19 using data from health, educational and children\'s social care and defined mothers enrolled in the Family Nurse Partnership or not using Family Nurse Partnership system data. Propensity scores were used to create matched groups for analysis.
UNASSIGNED: One hundred and thirty-six local authorities in England with active Family Nurse Partnership sites between 2010 and 2017.
UNASSIGNED: Mothers aged 13-19 at last menstrual period with live births between April 2010 and March 2019, living in a Family Nurse Partnership catchment area and their firstborn child(ren).
UNASSIGNED: The Family Nurse Partnership includes up to 64 home visits by a family nurse from early pregnancy until the child\'s second birthday and is combined with usual health and social care. Controls received usual health and social care.
UNASSIGNED: Indicators of child maltreatment (hospital admissions for injury/maltreatment, referral to social care services); child health and development (hospital utilisation and education) outcomes and maternal hospital utilisation and educational outcomes up to 7 years following birth.
UNASSIGNED: Family Nurse Partnership Information System, Hospital Episode Statistics, National Pupil Database.
UNASSIGNED: Of 110,520 eligible mothers, 25,680 (23.2%) were enrolled in the Family Nurse Partnership. Enrolment rates varied across 122 sites (range: 11-68%). Areas with more eligible mothers had lower enrolment rates. Enrolment was higher among mothers aged 13-15 (52%), than 18-19 year-olds (21%). Indicators of child maltreatment: we found no evidence of an association between the Family Nurse Partnership and indicators of child maltreatment, except for an increased rate of unplanned admissions for maltreatment/injury-related diagnoses up to age 2 for children born to Family Nurse Partnership mothers (6.6% vs. 5.7%, relative risk 1.15; 95% confidence interval 1.07 to 1.24). Child health and developmental outcomes: there was weak evidence that children born to Family Nurse Partnership mothers were more likely to achieve a Good Level of Development at age 5 (57.5% vs. 55.4%, relative risk 1.05; 95% confidence interval 1.00 to 1.09). Maternal outcomes: There was some evidence that Family Nurse Partnership mothers were less likely to have a subsequent delivery within 18 months of the index birth (8.4% vs. 9.3%, relative risk 0.92; 95% confidence interval 0.88 to 0.97). Younger and more vulnerable mothers received higher numbers of visits and were more likely to achieve fidelity targets. Meeting the fidelity targets was associated with some outcomes.
UNASSIGNED: Bias by indication and variation in the intervention and usual care over time and between areas may have limited our ability to detect effects. Multiple testing may have led to spurious, significant results.
UNASSIGNED: This study supports findings from evaluations of the Family Nurse Partnership showing no evidence of benefit for maltreatment outcomes measured in administrative data. Amongst all the outcomes measured, we found weak evidence that the Family Nurse Partnership was associated with improvements in child development at school entry, a reduction in rapid repeat pregnancies and evidence of increased healthcare-seeking in the mother and child.
UNASSIGNED: Future evaluations should capture better measures of Family Nurse Partnership interventions and usual care, more information on maternal risk factors and additional outcomes relating to maternal well-being.
UNASSIGNED: The study is registered as NIHR CRN Portfolio (42900).
UNASSIGNED: This award was funded by the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health and Social Care Delivery Research programme (NIHR award ref: 17/99/19) and is published in full in Health and Social Care Delivery Research; Vol. 12, No. 11. See the NIHR Funding and Awards website for further award information.
The Family Nurse Partnership is an intensive home visiting service that offers first-time young mothers up to 64 visits with a family nurse from pregnancy to their child’s second birthday. The Family Nurse Partnership aims to improve birth outcomes, child health and development and promote economic self-sufficiency among young mothers. Previous research in England found no differences in birthweight, maternal smoking, repeat pregnancies or accident and emergency attendances between mothers who did or did not take part in the Family Nurse Partnership. However, children in the Family Nurse Partnership group had better measures of development at school age. We aimed to add to the evidence from earlier studies, by using electronic records that are routinely collected as part of health, education and social care services, to compare outcomes for around 26,000 mothers enrolled in the Family Nurse Partnership between 2010 and 2019 with similar mothers who were not enrolled. This study showed that around one in four mothers who were eligible for the programme were enrolled in the Family Nurse Partnership, and family nurses gave priority to mothers who were younger, more deprived or who had other markers of vulnerability (e.g. a history of substance misuse violence, self-harm or mental health conditions). We found no evidence of a difference in indicators of child maltreatment between mothers who were enrolled in the Family Nurse Partnership and those who were not enrolled, but we found weak evidence to suggest that children born to mothers enrolled in the Family Nurse Partnership were more likely to achieve a Good Level of Development at school entry (age 5). We also saw that mothers enrolled in the Family Nurse Partnership were less likely than those who were not enrolled to have their next child within 18 months of their first child. More research is needed to understand which elements of intensive home visiting services work best, for whom and when. This will help inform decisions about whether it is better to offer highly intensive services for a small portion of the target population or to extend and enhance existing universal health visiting services to better support all adolescent mothers.

UNASSIGNED: To understand the effect of digital applications on maternal and neonatal outcomes in young pregnant girls.
UNASSIGNED: A PubMed, CINAHL and Medline online database search was conducted, and related studies were included the databases were searched in order to carry out a more in detailed search of the available literature utilizing keywords like \"digital technology\"; \"adolescent mothers\"; and \"infant, newborn\", as well as Boolean operators to generate papers pertinent which were correlating with the objective of the study.
UNASSIGNED: The findings revealed that the PPPs employed produced both positive and negative effects on mothers and newborns. Some were effective, especially in aspects related to improved mental health, while others did not necessarily support the adolescents in preparing for pregnancy and childbirth, but rather raised their anxiety levels. Similarly, the use of these apps decreased the use of emergency neonatal services by the adolescent mothers and the infants were lower in likelihood of exclusive breastfeeding. Participants appreciated the social media-based instruction, but this exposure did not translate into considerable change in routines and behaviors.
UNASSIGNED: Digital and web-based solutions had the ability to influence adolescent pregnancy outcomes, but further research is needed to assess the extent to which these support services are useful in this Population Group.