Objective: This study was conducted to compare the relative influence of the socioeconomic status of both mothers and fathers on feeding method and cosleeping.
Methods: The time and method of feeding and sleeping were recorded in a log during the 4th-week postpartum and analyzed according to the parental Hollingshead Index of Social Position in 33 families with their first newborn.
Results: The effect of socioeconomic status on feeding and sleep was parent specific. Low socioeconomic status of the mother, but not the father, was associated with cosleeping (t = 2.39, P < .01); whereas, a low socioeconomic status of the father, but not the mother, was associated with bottle-feeding rather than breast-feeding (t = 1.94, P < .05).
Conclusions: Socioeconomic status of the parents differentially affects neonatal care. Programs to increase breast-feeding rates would be most effective if designed for and aimed at the fathers.