Biography Lydiah M. Waswa Lydiah Maruti Waswa is an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Human Nutrition at Egerton University which she joined in 2007. Until 2007, she worked as a District Nutrition Officer under the Ministry of Health in Kenya. She holds a B.Ed. in Home Economics and an Msc in Foods, Nutrition and Dietetics from Kenyatta University. She is currently pursuing her PhD. Studies in Nutritional Sciences at the Justus Liebig UniversityGiessen, Germany. Her research focuses on maternal and child nutrition. Ms. Waswa is a member of the Kenya Nutrition and Dietetics Institute (KNDI) and the Africa Nutrition Society (ANS) among other professional organizations. She has received several awards including the Kenyatta University Postgraduate scholarship for Master studies, the MASHAV scholarship for participating in the postgraduate course, ‘Nutrition in a changing global environment’ which was held in Israel in 2011, the DAAD and National Council for Science and Technology scholarship for PhD studies and Nutrition Society Travel Fellowship Award for attending the 6th ANEC VI conference in Ghana. Short summary of presentation Breastfeeding as a family issue: The role of fathers, grandmothers and other family members With increasing recognition of the importance of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) in prevention of malnutrition in infants below six months, many different promotion and education programs have are carried out. However, exclusive breastfeeding rates remain low overall. Several studies have investigated the reasons behind the low rates of EBF focusing on the perceptions and attitudes of family members regarding EBF. 1 Studies have showed that next to spouses, grandmothers are among the most important family members from whom young mothers sought advice. Focus group discussions (FGDs) in Malawi showed that traditional infant feedings practices like feeding water and/or herbal teas soon after birth are still rooted in the communities especially among grandmothers. Although grandmothers knew about the benefits of EBF and realized that exclusively breastfed children are healthier and grow better, they were not fully convinced. In general, young mothers felt more confident about EBF. Some mothers even considered traditional knowledge and practices to be harmful to young infants. In these cases advice from grandmothers was being replaced by advice from local health staff. With the understanding of the benefits of EBF there is an emergence of behavior change. The traditional family environment still makes it difficult for mothers to practice EBF. This highlights the importance of including other family members especially grandmothers in breastfeeding promotion programs. This would enable behavior change among the mothers and strengthen the relationships between grandmothers and mothers for the benefit of the children. 2