Grandmothers Tea

The Grandmothers Tea project was designed to help provide knowledgeable support for breastfeeding women.  Recognizing that the "grandmother" population has a huge influence on whether our moms successfully breastfeed, the Grandmothers Tea educates grandmothers in a friendly atmosphere, influencing  their attitudes about breastfeeding and improving Illinois’ breastfeeding rates.

As grandmothers in our community are sought out by new mothers for advice in infant and child-rearing issues, these grandmothers  have the most up-to-date information on infant feeding practices.               

The tea includes activities that focus on 3 major breastfeeding issues: 

• Advantages of breastfeeding
• Myths women are told about breastfeeding
• Actions grandmothers can take to support breastfeeding women in their community

Designed to be adaptable to the learning needs of any community, the tea can include games, door prizes and refreshments.      

The curriculum is very adaptable.  Each section of the curriculum focuses on a particular subject and can be offered separately or presented in its entirety.  

Grandmothers Tea Curriculum

Grandmothers Tea Scenario Cards

 

Grandmothers Tea Outline

       

The Grandmothers Tea Tool Kit is on the WIC Sharing Center website: http:/wicwicwicwic/www.nal.usda.gov/wicworks/Sharing_Center/gallery/wic_fam3.htm#

History

The Grandmothers Tea project is a collaborative project of the Illinois Department of Human Service’s State Breastfeeding Task Force, the Illinois Department of Public Health’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Program and community breastfeeding partners. A 16-member Steering Committee identified a collaborative project incorporating social marketing principles with breastfeeding and obesity prevention.  The project was designed to develop new strategies to promote breastfeeding in Illinois.   

The Loving Support Steering Committee proposed a project to determine if secondary audiences, like grandmothers, could be influential and supportive of breastfeeding. Focus groups were conducted by a trained facilitator with forty-five grandmothers.  A questionnaire designed to access the breastfeeding knowledge level of grandmothers and to determine supportive or non-supportive “grandmother” behaviors was developed and used in the focus groups.   From these focus groups a curriculum was designed to provide breastfeeding education in an enjoyable setting - a Grandmothers Tea - to affect attitude change.