Fathers And Breastfeeding Process: Determining Their Role And Attitudes

Abstract

Breastfeeding is a vital for infants during their early stage of life and it is considered that fathers have an important role to make this process succeed; this study was done to determine father’s attitudes and involvement in the breastfeeding process. A study survey instrument designed to measure father’s attitudes regarding breastfeeding process, the degree of their involvement and fathers` surrounded cultural effect on their involvement. Instrument were piloted with 22 fathers who met the inclusion criteria and Cronbach's alpha was 0.73 for both measures : fathers` attitudes regarding breastfeeding and fathers` involvement in the process. Then a total of 198 fathers in King Abdullah University Hospital (KAUH) in Jordan completed a self-administered questionnaire. Means and standard deviations were calculated for the measures of fathers` breastfeeding attitudes and involvement, then Pearson’s correlation analysis was conducted with an alpha level of 0.05 between the measure of fathers` involvement in breastfeeding process and surrounded cultural effect on their involvement. Result shows that fathers in had a negative attitudes and poor involvement in the breastfeeding process, and a significant correlation found between fathers` involvement in the breastfeeding process and surrounded cultural effect regarding this role (P- value = 0.01). Father may play an important role to positively influence a mother's decision to initiate and continue breastfeeding. Therefore, efforts to increase breastfeeding rates should focus on involving fathers in interventions and programs to change their attitudes and make them aware regarding their role in the breastfeeding process.

Fathers’ Experiences and Perspectives of Breastfeeding: A Scoping Review

“…Fathers in several studies reported concerns about the perceived insufficiency of breast milk (Brown & Davies, 2014) and the inconvenience when compared with infant formula (Henderson et al, 2011; Mitchell-Box & Braun, 2012), and viewed it as challenging for their breastfeeding partners (Abu-Abbas et al, 2016; Brown & Davies, 2014). In a cross-sectional postal survey in Ireland, most participants ( N = 417; 77.7%) responded with at least one disadvantage of breastfeeding (Bennett et al, 2016).…”

“…Cultural implications influenced fathers’ views of breastfeeding in public. For example, Abu-Abbas et al (2016) attributed Jordanian fathers’ consistent negative attitudes toward public breastfeeding to that country’s conservative cultural norms. In contrast, fathers who grew up in jurisdictions where exposure to breastfeeding was commonplace and normed felt comfortable with women breastfeeding in public (Mitchell-Box & Braun, 2012).…”

Fathers’ Involvement in Their Wives’/Partners’ Breastfeeding: A Descriptive Correlational Study

“…Factors such as income, educational level, paternity leave, antenatal classes’ attendance, and knowledge and attitudes regarding breastfeeding were found to influence fathers’ breastfeeding involvement. Culture plays an important role in influencing breastfeeding involvement among fathers (Abu-abbass, Kallash, & Shelash, 2016; Datta, Graham, & Wellings, 2012; Sherriff, Hall, & Panton, 2014). Our study aimed to bridge a gap by examining all of the identified independent factors that influenced fathers’ involvement in their partners’ breastfeeding found in the literature, and conducting our study in an Asian context (Singapore), bringing in central aspects of Asian patriarchal culture.…”

From Dyad to Triad: a Survey on Fathers’ Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Breastfeeding

“…A high percentage of fathers interviewed declared to be in favor of breastfeeding in public, a possible sign of the changing times. Breastfeeding in public is still a controversial issue [33]: several studies have reported how it is often perceived by men as uncomfortable, embarrassing and even distasteful [18,21,34,35], showing a correlation with socio-economic status [18,35] and cultural background [30,36]. A significant push toward the rethinking of breastfeeding in public has been given by the implementation of the Baby-Friendly Community Initiative (BFCI) [9].…”