Exclusive Breastfeeding Decision-Making among Batak Toba Mothers in Indonesia: A Phenomenological Study of Perceived Infant Hunger, Economic Rationality, and Family Context

Introduction: Exclusive breastfeeding decisions are embedded in mothers’ interpretations of infant behaviour, household demands, and family relationships. Objective: To explore how Batak Toba mothers in Percut Sei Tuan, North Sumatra, experience and negotiate exclusive breastfeeding and to identify the culturally situated meanings through which feeding decisions become acceptable or difficult to sustain. Methods: This descriptive phenomenological study used semi-structured interviews with 12 Batak Toba mothers as the primary phenomenological participants and eight contextual informants (family members, health personnel, and community health volunteers). Maternal narratives were analysed inductively through meaning units, codes, thematic patterns, and phenomenological interpretation; contextual accounts were used to corroborate, contrast, and situate the mothers’ experiences. Results: Three themes were developed: (1) perceived infant hunger and uncertainty about breastmilk sufficiency; (2) breastfeeding as household practical reasoning involving cost, maternal time, labour, and reproductive fatigue; and (3) kinship, social authority, and the search for validation. Across themes, exclusive breastfeeding was experienced as feasible when it was perceived as sufficient for the infant, practically manageable for the mother, and socially legitimate within the household. In several narratives, formula-induced infant quietness retrospectively validated family interpretations that breastmilk had been insufficient. Conclusions: Exclusive breastfeeding among these mothers was a negotiated household practice rather than an isolated individual behaviour. Responsive lactation counselling should address non-specific infant cues, maternal confidence, workload, reproductive circumstances, and influential family relationships while avoiding assumptions that the findings represent all Batak Toba communities.