ArticlePloS one2015
Practical Support from Fathers and Grandmothers Is Associated with Lower Levels of Breastfeeding in the UK Millennium Cohort Study.
Article in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
47 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 118 citations in OpenAlex.
- Supporting Adolescent Mothers to Make Infant Feeding Decisions: A Qualitative Evidence Synthesis.Maternal & child nutrition · 2025Pooled it
- Relatively speaking? Partners' and family members' views and experiences of supporting breastfeeding: a systematic review of qualitative evidence.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021Pooled it
- Effectiveness of targeting fathers for breastfeeding promotion: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2018Pooled it
- Home-based intervention for non-Hispanic black families finds no significant difference in infant size or growth: results from the Mothers & Others randomized controlled trial.BMC pediatrics · 2020Trial
- Family-based obesity prevention for infants: Design of the "Mothers & Others" randomized trial.Contemporary clinical trials · 2017Trial
- Long-term breastfeeding mothers' perspectives on the warm chain's support.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Fathers' perspectives on the breastfeeding experience: a qualitative study.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Article
- Development and validation of paternal breastfeeding attitude scale.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- Collecting real-time infant feeding and support experience: co-participatory pilot study of mobile health methodology.International breastfeeding journal · 2025Article
- Association Between Family Support and Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy in a Cross-Sectional Study.Nursing open · 2025Article
- Children's Caregiving and Growth in Northwestern Tanzania: Limited Evidence That Support From Specific Caregivers Is Associated With Better Growth.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2025Article
- Maternal grandmothers buffer the effects of ethnic discrimination among pregnant Latina mothers.Evolutionary human sciences · 2024Article
- Attitudes, beliefs and social norms regarding infant and young child feeding among Nigerian mothers, fathers and grandmothers across time.Maternal & child nutrition · 2023Article
- How prenatal cortisol levels relate to grandmother-mother relationships among a cohort of Latina women.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2023Article
- An evolutionary perspective on the association between grandmother-mother relationships and maternal mental health among a cohort of pregnant Latina women.Evolution and human behavior : official journal of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society · 2023Article
- Do maternal grandmothers influence breastfeeding duration and infant nutrition? Evidence from Merida, Mexico.American journal of biological anthropology · 2022Article
- Can Maternal Prenatal Self-Reported and Physiological Distress Predict Postnatal Caregiving Practices?The Yale journal of biology and medicine · 2022Article
- Testing the buffering hypothesis: Breastfeeding problems, cessation, and social support in the UK.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2022Article
- Exclusive breastfeeding in rural Western China: does father's co-residence matter?BMC public health · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Mothers face trade-offs between infant care and subsistence/economic activities. In traditional populations, allomothers such as fathers and grandmothers support mothers with young infants, allowing them to reduce labour activities and focus on breastfeeding. Similarly, the positive impact of social support on breastfeeding has been highlighted in developed populations. However, these studies have generally focused on emotional support from fathers, peers and healthcare professionals. Given the availability of formula milk in developed populations, an evolutionary anthropological perspective highlights that practical support, unlike emotional support, may have negative associations with breastfeeding by enabling substitution of maternal care. Other kin, mainly grandmothers, may also be important allomothers influencing maternal breastfeeding levels. Here we explore the associations between different types of social support mothers receive from fathers/grandmothers and breastfeeding in the UK Millennium Cohort Study. We find frequent grandmother contact and father's parenting involvement are both associated with lower levels of breastfeeding, suggesting a negative relationship between practical support and breastfeeding. In contrast, father presence, potentially capturing emotional support, is associated with greater breastfeeding initiation. Our findings suggest that practical support and emotional support functions differently, and practical support may not encourage breastfeeding in developed populations.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.