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. 2016 Apr 27:16:91.
doi: 10.1186/s12884-016-0880-5.

The influence of grandmothers on breastfeeding rates: a systematic review

Joel Negin  1 , Jenna Coffman  2 , Pavle Vizintin  2 , Camille Raynes-Greenow  2
Affiliations

The influence of grandmothers on breastfeeding rates: a systematic review

Joel Negin et al. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. .

Abstract

Background: Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of an infant's life has enormous potential to reduce mortality and morbidity. The older generation, particularly the infant's grandmothers, play a central role in various aspects of pregnancy and child rearing decision-making within the family unit. This is particularly true in low- and middle-income countries where older women are seen as owners of traditional knowledge. Despite this, most health programs target the individual person most directly involved in the target behaviour--usually new mothers--without a commensurate understanding of who else influences those decisions. In this systematic review we aim to quantify the impact of the grandmother on influencing a mother's breastfeeding practices.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review using Web of Science, Scopus, and Medline databases using search terms for grandmother and breastfeeding. Eligible studies reported on the duration of exclusive breastfeeding and included estimates of effect of a grandmother's influence including whether or not the grandmother lived with the infant's family, the grandmother's education, and the grandmother's attitudes towards and prior experience with breastfeeding.

Results: We identified 568 articles and, after review, 13 articles were assessed as meeting the selection criteria. They were conducted in both developed and developing countries and included cross-sectional surveys, prospective cohort studies and one randomised controlled trial. Eight studies examined the effects of attitudes or experiences of older generations with respect to breastfeeding and five of the eight found a significant positive impact on breastfeeding when grandmothers of the infants had had their own breastfeeding experience or were positively inclined towards breastfeeding, resulting in effects of between 1.6 to 12.4 times more likely to exclusively breastfeed or refrain from introducing solid foods. A Chinese study however found that highly educated grandmothers were associated with decreased exclusive breastfeeding. The majority of the studies were assessed to be of weak or moderate quality.

Conclusions: This review found evidence that demonstrates that grandmothers have the capacity to influence exclusive breastfeeding. Programs that seek to influence exclusive breastfeeding should include grandmothers in their interventions to achieve maximum impact.

Keywords: Breastfeeding; Exclusive breastfeeding; Grandmother; Mother-in-law.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Selection of manuscripts for systematic review of impact of older generation on breastfeeding
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
a Impact on breastfeeding due to the grandmothers’ positive attitude towards breastfeeding. Studies utilising odds ratio as the measure of effect. b Impact on breastfeeding due to the grandmothers’ positive attitude towards breastfeeding. Studies utilising relative risk as the measure of effect
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
a Impact on discontinuation of breastfeeding due to the grandmother’s negative attitude towards breastfeeding. Studies utilising odds ratio as the measure of effect. b Impact on discontinuation of breastfeeding due to the grandmother’s negative attitude towards breastfeeding. Studies utilising hazard ratio as the measure of effect
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
a Effect of cohabitation with grandmother on exclusive breastfeeding. b Effect of cohabitation with grandmother on exclusive breastfeeding
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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