Influences on Infant Feeding: Perceptions of Mother-Father Parent Dyads

The purpose of this study was to examine interrelational-, organizational-, and community-level influences on how coparents collaborate about infant and toddler feeding.

Using qualitative methods, we interviewed mother-father parent dyads to explore the potential influences on infant and toddler feeding. Participants were purposively recruited from two Midwest, rural, university-system pediatric clinics. Thematic analysis was used to code the data.

Mother-father dyadic interviews were conducted using a semistructured interview schedule. Twenty-four mother-father dyads who had a child between the ages of 6 and 36 months were interviewed together.

Major themes include interpersonal factors (peer behavior reinforcement, dyad and important others infant feeding conflict, conflict resolution proactiveness), organizational factors (healthcare provider infant-feeding support, workplace flexibility), and community factors (public perception on breastfeeding and social media influence).

Community-based collaboration can be a platform for mother-father dyads, researchers, public health nurses, and other healthcare providers to proactively create interventions that include opportunity for building coparenting skills and infant-feeding knowledge that promote team management of common early childhood feeding challenges.