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A multifaceted, relationally focused intervention involving group and individual pre- and postnatal counseling, print resources, and community resources encouraged 390 fathers of newborn infants in Vietnam to responsively support mothers and work with them as a parenting team. Both partners completed questionnaires prebirth and 1-, 4-, and 9-months postbirth on measures of breastfeeding support, exclusive breastfeeding duration, relationship quality, and infant development. Compared to 412 comparison group couples, intervention couples evidenced greater father support, especially in terms of helping and responsiveness to the mother's needs. This support predicted longer exclusive breastfeeding duration, improved relationship quality, and higher levels of infant development at 9 months. Sensitively working together with mothers as a coordinated team enhanced couple's relationship functioning and improved children's developmental outcomes., (© 2019 Society for Research in Child Development.)

We examined the extent to which fathers can be taught and encouraged to develop positive relationships with their children, especially in infancy, and the effects of this fathering intervention on infant development. A multifaceted relationally focused intervention was used to assist fathers in Vietnam to engage in responsive direct and indirect involvement with their infants and work together with the mother as part of a parenting team. Fathers and mothers from 13 communes in a rural and semiurban district were recruited to the intervention group. Intervention fathers received group and individual counseling before and after birth, an interactive print resource, community messages about fathering, and the opportunity to participate in a Fathers Club. Couples from 12 comparable communes in a noncontiguous district were recruited to the control group. Fathers and mothers completed questionnaires at the prebirth recruitment and at 1-, 4-, and 9-months postbirth. Intervention fathers demonstrated greater increase in knowledge and attitudes regarding father-infant relationships. Both fathers and mothers reported that fathers engaged in more affection, care-taking, and play in the early months of their infants' lives and fathers felt more attached to their infants right from birth. A developmental assessment at 9 months showed that intervention infants demonstrated higher levels of motor, language, and personal/social development. This study demonstrated that fathers can be taught to interact more sensitively, responsively, and effectively with their newborn infants. Their increased interaction and emotional attachment appears to lay the foundation for enhanced infant development. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).)

Fathers influence mothers' breastfeeding decisions and experiences. Fathers' perceptions of their roles as members of the breastfeeding family are likely important components of that influence. To explore that possibility, 21 involved fathers of breastfeeding babies volunteered to be interviewed regarding their fathering breastfed babies and their roles in the breastfeeding family. Fathers identified their unique roles as team members ensuring that their babies received the benefits of breastfeeding. A primary fathering role was that of supporting breastfeeding by becoming breastfeeding savvy, by using their knowledge to encourage and assist mothers in breastfeeding, by valuing the breastfeeding mothers, and by sharing housework and child care. Fathers' nurturing roles involved fostering positive father-infant relationships in the face of limited opportunities to bond with their babies through feeding. The experiences of these fathers suggest the importance of assisting them to recognize their unique contributions to the nurture of their children as members of the breastfeeding team.