Research from Türkiye reveals that fathers’ attitudes and participation significantly influence mothers’ breastfeeding practices, suggesting a need for more inclusive family support strategies to meet global health targets.
A new study from Türkiye suggests that breastfeeding is shaped less by mothers alone than by the wider family environment, with fathers’ attitudes and participation playing a measurable role in how women approach feeding in the weeks after birth. The research, carried out in postnatal clinics in Izmir between March and October 2023, found that fathers’ breastfeeding attitudes and involvement were linked to mothers’ breastfeeding attitudes both shortly after delivery and again at four to six weeks postpartum.
The findings sit alongside guidance from the World Health Organization and UNICEF, which recommend breastfeeding within the first hour of birth, exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, and continued breastfeeding with complementary foods thereafter. In August 2024, UNICEF and WHO said exclusive breastfeeding rates had risen to 48% worldwide, up 10 percentage points over 12 years, but still short of the global target of at least 50% by 2025. The authors of the Turkish study argue that meeting those goals will require health systems to move beyond mother-only support and include fathers more deliberately in counselling and education.
The research followed 200 mothers and 200 fathers and measured parenting behaviour, breastfeeding attitudes and fathers’ participation at three points: within minutes of the first meeting with the baby, on the first day after birth, and again by telephone at four to six weeks. Mothers with higher education, planned pregnancies, a living child and no previous breastfeeding experience tended to show more positive early parenting behaviour. Fathers also fared better when they had higher education or had received breastfeeding education, but their overall participation scores remained low and fell slightly over time, suggesting that paternal involvement is still limited in practice.
A key pattern emerged in the way each parent influenced the other. Positive early parenting behaviour in mothers was weakly linked with stronger behaviour in fathers. Fathers’ attitudes and participation also predicted mothers’ breastfeeding attitudes on the first day after birth, although the relationship became much clearer by the later follow-up, when mothers’ own earlier breastfeeding attitudes were the strongest predictor of their later views. The authors say this points to breastfeeding as a family process that stabilises over time, rather than a decision or experience shaped only in the first hours after delivery.
The study also found that fathers who had received breastfeeding education were more likely to report positive attitudes and participation, yet only a small minority had done so. That matters, the researchers say, because supportive co-parenting has been associated in other studies with stronger mother-infant interaction and more secure attachment. Their conclusion is that breastfeeding support should begin early, continue beyond discharge, and deliberately include fathers if services are to improve breastfeeding outcomes and family bonding. They also caution that the study was conducted in an urban, middle-income Turkish sample, so the findings may not translate fully to rural or lower-income settings.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
