Breastfeeding and meeting the needs of partners
(September 2015) Image credit: http://www.thensmc.com/resources/showcase/be-star?view=all Since qualifying as a Breastfeeding Counsellor I have worked with over 500 fathers in antenatal breastfeeding education. The overwhelming impression I am given from them is that of a desire to be involved and to support their partners throughout the process. This desire is borne out in the research (Sherriff et al 2009; Rempel and Rempel 2010; Brown and Davies 2014) and what is interesting is that it also shows that mothers whose partner are supportive are more likely to have a positive breastfeeding experience (Meedya 2010). Image credit: http://beingdadboston.weebly.com/photo-credits.html I have subsequently become increasingly interested in supporting this need, particularly as my class experience shows me that often partners have the view that in order to help their partner they must feed the baby, thus ‘relieving’ the mother of the ‘burden’ of breastfeeding....