From family members
SAID
The husband could help his wife in preparing food, cooking, and clean for the baby. However, most of them did not have a preference for either breastfeeding or infant formula and seemed to follow the mother’s or grandparent’s decision. Messages which focused on, or emphasized the love between the father–newborn and husband-wife would involve the husband in helping with breastfeeding.
“My husband said nothing, but he seemed to follow grandparents who supported stopping breastfeeding. He thought I would be tired from being woken -up many times to breastfeed the baby at night”. (0904Text1).The mother-in-law is the most influential person. She was very helpful in caring for newborns and mothers as local birthing traditions did not support new moms doing housework in their first month after delivery. However, the differences in lifestyles and caring could create more stress for first-time mothers.“After giving birth, I was very tired. My son was the first grandchild of a big family. His grandmother hugged and carried him almost all day. I was even not allowed to hold him. I could not have skin-to-skin contact for the first 12 hours as I wanted. When he cried, I told the grandmother to let me breastfeed him, however, she scolded me: “He′s hungry! How can you feed him when you have no milk!” (0904Text3).Grandmothers often turned to use infant formula to enable them to feed a child whenever he/she cries, a preference for a “chubby” baby. They had also been exposed to infant formula advertisements on television. Involving family members in the preparation and planning for breastfeeding during pregnancy would support their breastfeeding decision and practice.