Table 1.
Interview questions and prompts according to the target behaviours and Michie’s COM-B model
| Target/Competing Feeding Behaviour | COM-B domain | Examples of interview questions/prompts |
|---|---|---|
| Initiating breastfeeding/Initiating formula feeding | Capability | Can you remember how you felt about the idea of breastfeeding when you were pregnant? Did you know much about breastfeeding? |
| Opportunity | Did you receive any support or advice from anyone or anywhere about breastfeeding or formula feeding (Prompts: family, friends, media, antenatal education). If yes: What was the advice and support? Did it influence you? | |
| Are most of your friends breastfeeding or formula feeding? | ||
| Motivation | When did you start thinking about whether you wanted to only breastfeed or formula feed him/her or do both? So you had/hadn’t planned on how you would feed your baby? | |
| Prolonging breastfeeding/Introduce formula | Capability | Do you feel that you know how to breastfeed well now? |
| Do you feel confident about it? Why/why not? | ||
| Opportunity | Do you feel supported, practically or emotionally in (breast) feeding your baby? | |
| What things have influenced you to continue breastfeeding (Prompts: nutritional content, convenience, sleep better with BF or formula, work, friends). | ||
| Motivation | Do you want to continue breastfeeding your baby? | |
| Are you still planning on breastfeeding for X? | ||
| Best practice formula preparation and feeding practices/Suboptimal formula preparation and feeding practices | Capability | How do you know how to make up the formula? |
| Do you feel confident with formula feeding? | ||
| Opportunity | Are there any issues around formula feeding that you would like more advice on or feel unclear about? | |
| Motivation | Which do you think is easier: Breast feeding or formula feeding? | |
| Introducing solids later (at 6 months)/Introducing solids earlier (before 4 months) | Capability | How will you know when the timing is right?/How did you know when to introduce solid foods to your baby? |
| Opportunity | Were you provided with any support or advice from anyone or anywhere about when to introduce solids foods to your baby? Did any of the advice/support change the age at which you introduced solid foods? | |
| What is normal within your social network- when do other mothers introduce solid foods? Has this influenced you?/Will this influence you? | ||
| Motivation | Do you want to introduce solids when your baby is a particular age? | |
| What kinds of things influenced your plans? Probe: beliefs about the consequences of introducing solids at various ages. | ||
| It is recommended that babies should start solids food at around 6 months of age. How do you feel about this recommendation? | ||
| Introduce healthy first foods/Introduce unhealthy first foods | Capability | Do you feel that you know enough about what you should feed your baby? |
| How confident do you feel with feeding your baby now? Why/why not? | ||
| Opportunity | Have you been provided with any specific support or advice from anyone or anywhere about what foods to feed your baby? (Prompt: who? what advice? what would help?). Did it influence what you feed your baby? | |
| Motivation | Is there anything in particular that you want your baby to eat? | |
| How confident do you feel with feeding your baby now? | ||
| Feed to appetite/Use non-nutritive feeding | Capability | What kinds of things influenced your (settling) behaviours? Probe: Knowledge, perceived ability. |
| How do you know when to feed your baby? How do you know when your baby is hungry or full? How do you know how much to feed your baby? | ||
| Opportunity | Were you provided with any support or advice from anyone or anywhere about settling your baby? | |
| Motivation | Do you find it [using milk or food to settle] effective? | |
| Before having your baby had you thought about what techniques you might use to settle the baby? (Prompt: Did you think that milk/food might be something that you would use?) | ||
| Did you plan on stopping breastfeeding at a particular age? Do you want to stop breastfeeding your baby at that age? | ||
| Which do you think is easier: Breast feeding or formula feeding? | ||
| Is (stopping breastfeeding at a particular age) something you had planned on doing? |