Fathers' Role in Breastfeeding and Infant Sleep is Key, Study Finds
/
Photo by Anna Shvets
By: Jackie Wattles
Fathers matter.
A new study — a rare effort that focuses solely on the father’s involvement in an infant’s life — shows a striking link between the support that dads offer and better infant outcomes.
The research sought to answer several questions about paternal participation in breastfeeding and the use of safe sleep practices for babies. The results showed that fathers play a crucial role in both — and it highlights the need for bolstered parental leave policies in the United States, according to the study, which published Friday in the journal of Pediatrics.
The results of the survey, which included 250 fathers, were “suboptimal,” the study concluded, revealing only 16% of dads followed all the recommended safe sleeping practices for infants. And many could do more to support mothers who breastfeed, which can provide key health benefits for babies, the study indicated.
The reason the researchers asked these questions in the first place? Moms wanted them to, said study coauthor Dr. Craig Garfield, a pediatrician at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
For more than 30 years, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has carried out a Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System — or PRAMS — survey that seeks to gather data from mothers before, during and after birth.
“The moms actually started to write in the margins of the survey,” Garfield said. “The only question they asked (originally in the survey) about dads was: ‘Did your partner hit, kick, beat or slap you during your pregnancy?’ ”
Mothers knew that a father’s active support could be critical in the early months of an infant’s life, and they wanted that data reflected, too, Garfield said. Ultimately, the CDC reached out to the Northwestern researchers for help, providing funding for the study.
The findings...
