The content and sources of maternal knowledge about the infant.

Abstract

The author's purpose was to explore the knowledge that a primiparous mother acquires during the first 14 days postpartum about caretaking and personal characteristics of the infant. The study also examined the sources of this knowledge. The convenience sample consisted of 33 healthy, married, middle-class women. For caretaking knowledge, on postpartum days 1-6, mothers learned most about feeding, and on days 7-13 about administering daily care. For personal knowledge, on day 1 mothers learned most about infant physical characteristics and on days 2-13 about infant activity. Mothers acquired significantly more personal knowledge about their infant than caretaking knowledge, both daily and across the 2 weeks. Knowledge acquisition was highest during hospitalization. Maternal use of self was the dominant source for learning; however, nurses were the primary source for caretaking knowledge during hospitalization.