Recent cultural changes, such as maternal employment outside the home, have had a negative impact on breast feeding. This systematic review examines the emotions and barriers that women encounter when attempting to formula feed their infants. The reviewers contend that whereas breastfeeding mothers receive much guidance and support, the needs of bottle-feeding mothers are largely neglected.

Twelve electronic databases were searched for research articles relating to mothers’ experiences of formula feeding. The review was restricted to English-language publications from developed countries. Six qualitative studies and 17 quantitative studies were evaluated. One reviewer extracted data and assessed the methodological quality of each study included in the review. This reviewer’s conclusions were verified by one of the two co-reviewers. Results of the studies were …