Breastfeeding counseling improves maternal‐infant feeding interaction in those exposed to controlling behavior or emotional violence: MINIMat study in Bangladesh

Abstract only Good quality maternal‐infant interaction is foundational for infant health and development, but domestic violence may impede on women's ability to interact well during feeding. Further, while breastfeeding counseling benefits breastfeeding duration, its influence on maternal‐infant feeding interaction is unknown in vulnerable populations. We aimed to determine if the influence of breastfeeding counseling on maternal‐infant feeding interaction depended on maternal exposure to controlling behavior or emotional violence during pregnancy. We used data from 180 mother‐infant dyads (infants 3–4 m old) who were part of a sub‐study of the Maternal and Infant Nutrition Intervention (MINIMat) study in Matlab, Bangladesh. Women were randomly assigned at 30 weeks of gestation to 1 of 2 counseling groups: usual health message counseling (UHM) or exclusive breastfeeding counseling with usual health message counseling (BFC). Lifetime exposure to controlling behavior and pregnancy exposure to emotional violence were measured by the modified version of Conflict Tactic Scale at 30 wk gestation. NCAST scales (total, maternal or infant total, and maternal sensitivity and social‐emotional fostering scales) were used to measure maternal‐infant feeding interaction. There were interactions of counseling and exposure to controlling behavior on total NCAST (P‐interaction < 0.08) and maternal total (P‐interaction < 0.05), sensitivity (P‐interaction < 0.04), and social‐emotional fostering (P‐interaction < 0.02) scales. After controlling for food security, there were interactions of counseling group and exposure to emotional violence during pregnancy on total NCAST (P‐interaction