'Breakfast, lunch and dinner': attitudes to infant feeding amongst children in a Scottish primary school. A qualitative focus group study

Abstract

Objective  To describe the knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about infant feeding in one primary school in Scotland.  Design Qualitative focus group study.  Setting  A single primary school which serves a mixed socioeconomic area in the north of Scotland.  Method Parents gave demographic details about their family and information about whether their children had been breastfed. Twenty- three children, aged 6, took part in three focus groups which were conducted by two facilitators, according to a predetermined topic guide. Focus group data were supplemented with analyses of children's drawings and with fieldnotes.  Results Children generally spoke of and drew pictures of bottle-feeding. Their lack of everyday language for breastfeeding suggested that breastfeeding was not a'taken-for-granted' activity. The repeated reference to adult meal patterns and to equipment suggested that the children have a mechanistic and confused idea of what breastfeeding involves. Their difficulties conceptualising night feeds and feeding in public places suggested that the children viewed breastfeeding as a private activity, permissible only in certain contexts. Children had vivid recall of TV images of infant feeding.  Conclusions Despite the observation that breastfeeding was not generally perceived as a natural activity, our findings suggest that primary school children are interested in infant feeding and that they can be engaged in and educated about it as young as six years old. Larger studies are needed to further explore attitudes to infant feeding.