Abstract:
Fathers of young infants have a crucial role to play in the promotion, support
and protection of breastfeeding as women often face many challenges during
the post-partum period. The World Health Organization recommends paying
particular attention to participation by the male partners in child and maternal
health as they also have responsibilities and roles to play in nurturing their
young ones and supporting their families. The focus of this research was to
explore and to describe the perceived roles of fathers in the support, protection
and promotion of breastfeeding. This study adopted a qualitative method using
an explorative and descriptive design, and the sample included twelve fathers
of infants aged less than six months at Schoonoord Village, Sekhukhune
District, Limpopo province, South Africa. Using in-depth individual
unstructured interviews, data were collected until data saturation was attained
and analysed using Tesch’s open-coding method. The findings show that fathers
perceive breastfeeding to be the optimum feeding choice for the baby and
beneficial to the mother. Provision of emotional and financial support to the
women, protection of the mother and the baby, motivation and assistance in
seeking healthcare emerged as the key roles of fathers during the breastfeeding
period. This study recommends that fathers be involved in breastfeeding
counselling and that healthcare providers create an environment that is
conducive to the participation of fathers in the topic of infant feeding.
