Background
Methods
Aim
Design
Sample/participants
Setting/breastfeeding support policies
The intervention
Standard care in the control group (CG)
Sample
Intervention | Control | |
---|---|---|
n = 8a | n = 8 | |
Partners | ||
Age, mean (range)a | 35 (29–36) | 32 (29–45) |
University education, n (%)a | 2 (25.0) | 4 (50.0) |
Household income > 40,000 SEK/4000 EUR per month n (%)a | 6 (85.7) | 5 (62.5) |
Male sex | 8 (100.0) | 7 (87.5) |
Born in Swedena | 5 (71.4) | 7 (87.5) |
Interviews during pregnancy, n (%) | 4 (50.0) | 3 (37.5) |
Diaries during pregnancy, n (%) | 0 (0) | 1 (12.5) |
Interviews 2 months postpartum, n (%) | 5 (62.5) | 3 (37.5) |
Diaries 2 months postpartum, n (%) | 1 (12.5) | 3 (37.5) |
Mothers | ||
Previous experience of breastfeeding n (%) | 4 (50.0) | 4 (50.0) |
Plan at gestational week 24 for duration of exclusive breastfeedinga | ||
No plan | 2 (25.0) | 0 (0.0) |
4 to 5 months | 1 (12.5) | 5 (62.5) |
6 months | 4 (50.0) | 3 (37.5) |
Intervention | Control | |
---|---|---|
n = 8a | n = 8 | |
Exclusive breastfeeding, n (%) | 3 (43.0) | 4 (57.1) |
Breastfeeding/ Human milk, n (%) | 2 (29.0) | 0 (0.0) |
Breastfeeding/ Human milk and Formula, n (%) | 2 (29.0) | 4 (50.0) |
Data collection
Data analysis
Rigour
Results
Striving to be part of the family and important that the family’s everyday life was well-functioning
We are a family, and everyone is involved – feeling excluded
We are a family, and everyone is involved
‘We have been able to...communicate in a good way...you talk so that you are on the same page all the time. But also that you share the practical because it has to work as well. So we have to pump. But that’s not a disadvantage; it’s just that you have to be a little organised’. (Interview IG, Informant 7).
Feel excluded
‘She does not like it because she would much rather continue breastfeeding...if she wants to go out for a bike ride in the evening…If he screams. And if he’s hungry and [name] isn’t here, he gets to eat from the bottle’. (Interview CG, Informant 11).
It is safe to receive guidance from healthcare – we did not receive support
It is safe to receive guidance from healthcare
‘We are involved in the discussion there, both me and [name]. We talk very openly there. All three of us. As [name] breastfeeds, so...there has been a standing discussion at every visit, how it works. Every single visit’. (Interview IG Informant 12).
We did not receive support
‘It’s sad that, as a father, especially now that it’s Covid, I can’t go to the routine check-ups; I’m not the one who breastfeeds. The mother gets everything. While the father gets a bit like this “uh, you have to grasp at a corner there”...we have managed to get annoyed with each other’. (Interview CG, Informant 15).
Breastfeeding made everyday life easier for the family –formula made everyday life easier for the family
Breastfeeding made everyday life easier for the family
‘Practically - If there’s a moment when it’s just me at home. We think it’s important that he gets as much breast milk as possible and it’s good that...she has time to pump and that there is...in a bottle’. (Interview IG, Informant 7).
‘I have two children with another partner. There, it was not possible to breastfeed; it was supplementing with formula. I am used to getting up at night and doing it. So, I think it worked great. He wakes up and is nursed and goes back to sleep’. (Interview IG, informant 9).
Formula made everyday life easier for the family
Breastfeeding has benefits – infants who are not breastfed feel well
Breastfeeding has benefits
‘As much antibodies as possible. Before, I probably thought that it was just a matter of supplementing with formula. But it doesn’t feel like that anymore, considering that we have come to understand that breast milk contains a lot more than just energy’. (Interview IG, Informant 9).
Infants who are not breastfed feel well
Breastfeeding works, the infant grows – not all infants find it easy to breastfeed
Breastfeeding works, the infant grows
Not all infants find it easy to breastfeed
The cultural norm is that women should breastfeed – it is uncomfortable to see someone breastfeeding
The cultural norm is that women should breastfeed
‘The perception we had that we should breastfeed fifty/fifty comes from that book where they say “yes, but it’s clear that only breastfeeding is the best”, but because we have clean water in Sweden, you can feel safe with buying and using the others’. (Interview IG, Informant 7).
It is uncomfortable to see someone breastfeeding
‘It is completely normal to breastfeed. It doesn’t matter where...she is. Because there is nothing strange about it. You know, people say like this, “it’s dirty, it’s going to be naked.” It’s this and that’. (Interview CG, Informant 15).