The Breastfeeding Choice: The Influence Of Relatives On Mothers

This article aims at describing and analyzing the role of the entourage in the decision of the mother to breastfeed or not to breastfeed the first child. It is mainly based on a qualitative survey by semi-directive individual interviews conducted in 2016 with 26 mothers. These qualitative data are supplemented by quantitative results from the Elfe cohort conducted among a sample of mothers of children born in 2011, of whom more than 8000 were primiparous. The data show an influence of the spouse, the child's grandmother and the friendly and professional entourage on the choice to breastfeed the first child. The analysis emphasize the importance of social background, particularly that of the mother. The spouse is all the more influential as he has social ascendancy over the mother, and the experience of the grandmother is all the more listened to as the mother belongs to the popular categories. There are two types of influence: either active (through the formulation of a discourse aimed at influencing the decision) or passive (through one's own breastfeeding experience, without intervening directly in the decision). Exploring the influence of family and friends in the infant's choice of food enables us to understand the processes and conditions of this decision. (C) 2020 Societe francaise de nutrition. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.