“Love, you need to give your child love”: mothers’ perceptions of nurturing care for young children in South Africa

Abstract

Background: nurturing care of young children is aimed at promoting lifelong, intergenerational health and well-being, as well as social and economic benefits. This study is aimed at qualitatively exploring maternal perceptions related to nurturing care, their access to information and support for caregiving, the home and community environments and practices, and how caregivers promote infants’ health and well-being in Soweto, South Africa.

Methods: the study employed a sequential, two-stage process. First, three focus group discussions were conducted with a total of 19 mothers of children aged 0–24 months, which then informed 12 in-depth interviews (four women from each focus group discussion). Focus group discussions and interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim and data were analysed using thematic analysis.

Results: the health and well-being of infants were generally described in relation to their feeding and growth and how physically active they were. The need for pregnancy and caregiving information, accompanied by opportunities to discuss this with a health care worker or other women, was highlighted by participants in this study. Potentially obesogenic and non-responsive infant and young child feeding practices were commonly reported by mothers. Responsive caregiving was described as taking care of children’s physical needs, providing them with love, and playing with them. Female matriarchs were particularly influential in providing caregiving advice and support for mothers. Naturally occurring interactions, such as talking and singing, were commonly reported practices to promote children’s development in the home. Safety concerns were ubiquitous and limited children’s play and exploration outside the home.

Conclusions: this is one of few studies to explore caregivers’ perceptions of nurturing care in the South African context and the first to focus specifically on the first 1000 days. Thus, the study findings can contribute to strengthening initiatives to support caregivers to provide nurturing care for young children in South Africa and other similar contexts. Findings point to the need for better targeted information and support for mothers and other caregivers around nurturing care, especially elements related to infant and young child feeding (including responsive feeding), responsive care, early learning, and how to address safety in the home. There is also a gap in the provision of appropriate information and opportunities to engage with peers and health care workers around issues pertinent to pregnant women within current services. These deficiencies can be addressed through strengthening existing services, leveraging current platforms of care and support for pregnant women and young children, particularly through the health system.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Shane A. Norris: orcid.org/0000-0001-7124-3788

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