Abstract
Background
Maternal social support has a critical impact on breastfeeding outcomes. Fathers in particular are known to be especially influential. However, little is known about what they know and how they feel about breastfeeding. We aimed to explore paternal knowledge and attitude toward breastfeeding and possible association with breastfeeding rates at discharge.
Methods
We enrolled fathers of healthy term neonates born at our hospital from March to May 2019. At discharge, a self-administered structured questionnaire was proposed to fathers. Fathers were required to rate their degree of agreement to 12 items on a 5-point Likert scale. A total score was obtained from their answers. Subjects’ basic characteristics and mode of feeding at discharge were collected.
Results
Fathers showed a generally solid knowledge of maternal (87%) and neonatal (98%) benefits of breastfeeding, skin-to-skin contact (99.5%), rooming-in practice (79%) and responsive feeding (67.5%); conversely, only 51% of them knew about the recommended use of pacifiers. Fathers felt personally involved in their babies’ feeding in 79% of cases, regardless of type of feeding. A positive correlation was found between total score and exclusive breastfeeding rates at discharge (p = 0.04, OR 1.07; 95%C.I 1.002–1.152). ROC analysis showed a trend toward statistical significance (AUC 0.58, p = 0.083, 95%C.I 0.485–0.683).
Conclusions
This study underlines the importance of including fathers in the promotion of breastfeeding, expanding the classic mother-baby dyad to a more modern mother-father-baby triad. This may ultimately impact breastfeeding outcomes, although further studies are needed to confirm our results.