Intergenerational Transmission of Factors that Determine Infant Feeding Practices: a Qualitative Approach to Examining Guatemalan Maternal Experiences

Abstract

ObjectivesTo explore mothers’ views and behaviors regarding infant feeding practices (IFP) and to determine how grandmothers and other actors’ influences might be leveraged for enforcing appropriate IFP.MethodsMothers of children, aged <24 mo, of both Mayan and mixed‐European ascent, were recruited for qualitative research inquiry in the urban area of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. Data was collected using semi‐structured informant interviews and reflective dialogues in focus groups. Sessions were recorded and transcribed. Information was synthesized around the concept of “agency.”FindingsThe notion that infants require certain foods to avoid illness and suffering represents a powerful ideology that influential grandmother‐generation females figures (mothers, mothers‐in‐law, aunts) transmit to nursling's mothers through mechanisms such as fear messages. Moreover, both generations share a common belief that infants innately prompt mothers to begin introduction of certain foods; this reveals an infant‐to‐mother‐directed influence on IFP.ConclusionsFuture community education initiatives should consider interpersonal and subjective determinants of IFP to promote maternal agency and the active participation of actors in both bracketing generations who influence the mothers’ IFP.Financed by the Nestlé Foundation and Sight & Life, Switzerland