The role dads have in supporting breastfeeding

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The role dads have in supporting breastfeeding

The role dads have in supporting breastfeeding | Breastfeeding Breastmilk has a profoundly positive impact on baby’s health. For optimal nutrition, baby only needs breastmilk in the first six months of life, after which complementary solids can be added. Ideally, mom continues to breastfeed until baby turns two. 1

Is breastfeeding a woman-only job? Is it only the mom who breastfeeds? No!

Breastfeeding can be hard. There are many factors at play that can make mom end breastfeeding early, or introduce feeding practices that are not best for baby. For mom to successfully achieve her breastfeeding plan she needs to be in spaces that are supportive of breastfeeding mothers. The enabling environments are caring, compassionate, encouraging, helpful, kind, and thoughtful or intentional. These spaces involve a wide range of people – from her peers (friends), to family, to her workplace.

To see our babies receive the optimal nutrition they need from the very beginning of their lives requires much more than a woman and her breasts. We all have a part to play.

The role dads have in supporting breastfeeding | Changing a baby's nappyFor us to see a growing number of moms providing optimal nutrition in their breastfeeding practices, we need to explore how we can reach and include the fathers. Dads play a crucial role in supporting moms. We often overlook what role fathers (and other adults in the household) have with breastfeeding and babies receiving optimal nutrition.

What is the messaging that is being sent to fathers regarding breastfeeding? What are they hearing inside their household? From the broader community? From society at large?

We all parent from what we know: what we have experienced and what we observe around us. So many fathers simply don’t know the importance of breastfeeding and are left out of the discussions around how to feed their baby and how to best care for their baby. This can lead to fathers feeling like they do not have a role, and reinforces the idea that it is a woman’s only job. This naturally leads to dads not actively supporting mom. They could even be promoting unhealthy feeding practices, based on misinformation that they have heard or witnessed. They could even be antagonistic, encouraging mom to stop breastfeeding.

Sikunye is committed to seeing a new message for fathers:

Dad, you can support mom in her breastfeeding plan!

Father’s knowledge of breastfeeding leads to father’s intention to encourage mom, which leads to actual support. This has an impact on mother and increases the likelihood of initiating and sustaining breastfeeding.

Put another way, if dad is unaware of the importance of breastfeeding, he will not be likely to play a supportive role for mom. We believe fathers matter here – and can be a powerful ally in supporting mom. We recognize that breastfeeding is mother’s choice, and the message for dads is support mom’s choice.

Sikunye presenting at the WC Dept of Health and Wellness

In World Breastfeeding Week, Richard presented at the Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness Breastfeeding Seminar – bringing awareness to how various healthcare workers can engage, and encourage dads to be part of the support for mom as she breastfeeds. The role dads have in supporting breastfeeding

So, in our Fatherhood in the First Thousand Days programme, we help dads understand the importance of feeding (good nutrition), and to work together with mom to see baby get good nutrition to grow strong and healthy. In the programme, fathers are encouraged to have conversations ahead of time and to help mom feel like she is supported in her plan. This helps mom to know she isn’t alone and carrying the burden of feeding her baby by herself. She has someone else there to help try to figure it out. This will reduce mom’s possible feelings of of being overwhelmed and on her own. We want to see dad by her side – encouraging her, championing her on, helping her with the practical logistics of breastfeeding and life.

What can dads do to support breastfeeding?

We asked a range of people in the Sikunye network about the role dads have in supporting breastfeeding: What information or messages can we all share with dads to encourage them to better support moms to breastfeed?  Swipe through their responses and our suggestions for what dad can be doing:

Good breastfeeding practices benefits baby, with lifelong impact. Let’s include and involve dad in the community of care and support around mom in this task. We all win when we include dad, equipping him with information and skills to give his child the best start in life.

Additional sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9665906/

https://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/id/eprint/146729/1/The_role_of_fathers_in_breastfeeding_FINAL.pdf 

https://sidebyside.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/076-2020-Breastfeeding-QA-Booklet-FA.pdf

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