A small pilot survey (n = 113) by questionnaire of the fathers of a sa
mple of children under one year of age was undertaken in order to inve
stigate the involvement of fathers with infant feeding and their attit
udes to the method of feeding adopted. The response rate was 72% overa
ll and 79% when the partners of 'single parent' mothers were excluded.
Nearly 30% of respondents had not discussed the method of feeding wit
h anyone, but over 60% had discussed it with their partner. 64% of fat
hers sometimes helped with feeding their child and 17% said that they
always helped. The majority of fathers did not mind their partner brea
st feeding in front of friends or relatives but 42% did not like them
feeding in front of strangers and over half did not like them breast f
eeding in a public place. From this study, based on relatively small n
umbers, we conclude that fathers may feel left out of infant feeding.
They should be given more opportunity to become involved from an early
stage and take part in the decision about the method of infant feedin
g to be adopted.