Infant Feeding Practices and Social Support Networks Among Immigrant Chinese American Mothers With Economic Disadvantage in New York City

Abstract

Background: Maternal social support promotes healthy infant feeding practices, which influence healthy growth and development. Less is known about how the interplay of social support networks and multicultural health beliefs may influence infant feeding practices, particularly among immigrant Chinese American mothers with economic disadvantage and low breastfeeding rates. Research Aim: To explore the role of social support networks in the development of infant feeding practices in immigrant Chinese American mothers with infants. Methods: This was a prospective, cross-sectional qualitative study where we conducted semi-structured interviews in Mandarin, Cantonese, or English with Chinese American mothers of infants ( N = 25) at a federally qualified health center in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Data were analyzed by a multicultural, multidisciplinary team using qualitative thematic analysis and the constant comparative method to identify and iteratively refine emerging codes. Results: Three themes emerged describing how broad transnational communities and close family and friends influence maternal-infant feeding practices: (1) Gathering and processing infant feeding information from broad transnational resources (i.e., from both the mother’s country of residence and the mother’s country of origin); (2) aligning maternal feeding attitudes with cultural health beliefs of local social networks; and (3) gaining confidence with transactional maternal–infant feeding interactions. Conclusions: Strategies to promote healthy infant feeding should consider how family supports and culturally-relevant coaching can help align multilevel transnational social networks with healthy infant feeding practices.