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Sources of feeding advice in the first year of life: who do parents value?

Aideen Gildea1, Seaneen Sloan, Moira Stewart

  • 1Institute of Child Care Research, Queen's University Belfast.

Community Practitioner : the Journal of the Community Practitioners' & Health Visitors' Association
|April 1, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Mothers highly value health visitor advice for infant feeding, even as services are restructured. Grandparents are also a key source of information for new parents.

Area of Science:

  • Public Health
  • Maternal and Child Health
  • Health Services Research

Background:

  • Health visiting services in the UK have shifted from universal to targeted approaches.
  • Recent changes in UK infant feeding recommendations necessitate understanding parental information sources.
  • Numerous sources provide infant feeding advice, making it crucial to identify valuable resources for parents.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate where mothers obtain infant feeding advice.
  • To assess the perceived value of different information sources for infant feeding.
  • To understand the role of health visitors in providing infant feeding guidance amidst service reorganisation.

Main Methods:

  • A study interviewed 215 mothers of one-year-old infants.
  • Participants were asked about sources of feeding advice during their infant's first year.
  • Mothers reported on the usefulness of the information received.

Main Results:

  • Health visitors were the most frequently cited source of infant feeding advice (70%).
  • Grandparents were also a significant source, cited by 53% of mothers.
  • A notable 10% of mothers relied exclusively on health visitor advice.

Conclusions:

  • Mothers place significant importance on health visitor guidance for infant feeding.
  • The findings underscore the continued relevance of health visitors despite service restructuring.
  • Implications exist for health visitor service planning and delivery in light of these parental preferences.

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