Adolescent postpartum care: what daughters want and what their mothers expect to provide

Abstract

A cross sectional survey design was used to measure mothers' (n=36) expected involvement in the care of their parenting adolescent daughters and grandchildren after postpartum discharge, and to measure adolescents' (n=36) expectations about their mothers' involvement in the care of themselves and their newborns. Adolescents were first-time low-risk English-speaking mothers 15-19 years of age with low-risk newborns. No difference was found between the amount of care mothers expected to give their daughters and the amount of care that daughters expected to receive from their mothers, z = -.500, p = .62. No difference was found between the amount of newborn care mothers expected to give their grandchildren and the amount of newborn care that daughters expected their mothers to provide, z = -1.000, p = .32. Involvement of mothers in the postpartum care of their daughters and grandchildren needs further study, but with precautions, nurses may consider including mothers in the maternal and newborn care of adolescents.