Association Between Smoking During Pregnancy and Breastfeeding at About 2 Weeks of Age

Abstract

Maternal smoking during pregnancy may decrease breastfeeding, in part perhaps by decreasing milk supply; furthermore, prenatal smoking is a predictor of postpartum smoking. In this study, birth certificate data, including maternal smoking, for 1998 Oregon resident live births were linked to newborn screening data obtained from Oregon's Newborn Screening Program (NSP), allowing study of risk factors for failure to breastfeed. NSP collects information on infant feeding before newborn discharge and again at about 2 weeks postpartum. Feeding data and risk factor data were available after a probability match of the newborn screening and birth certificate data sets, respectively, for 36,324 (80.3%) of the 45,228 resident live births. Prenatal maternal tobacco use was significantly associated with failure to exclusively breastfeed at about 2 weeks of age (adjusted odds ratio = 2.08, 95% confidence interval = 1.94, 2.21). Women who smoked during pregnancy were less likely to breastfeed than women who did not smoke during pregnancy.

Factors influencing breastfeeding rates in south‐western Sydney

“…This is consistent with published literature that has found smoking to reduce the duration of breastfeeding 19 . This may be partly explained by studies that have shown smoking to decrease maternal milk supply at 2 weeks post‐natally 20,21 …”

“…19 This may be partly explained by studies that have shown smoking to decrease maternal milk supply at 2 weeks post-natally. 20,21 In our analysis, Australian-born mothers were found to be less likely to breastfeed. The reason for this lower breastfeeding rate is not clearly evident.…”

Factors affecting breast-feeding initiation in Greece: What is important?

“…Regular smoking before pregnancy did not prove significant for the initiation of breast feeding (p ¼0.357 and 0.832 for exclusive and any breast feeding, respectively). This result seemingly differs from most published studies, which however, have primarily focused on the association of smoking and early weaning, which in effect refers to the duration of breast feeding, rather than the initiation of this process (Ratner et al, 1999;Letson et al, 2002). Furthermore, it has been suggested that the relationship between maternal smoking and breast-feeding initiation could not be explained through a biological mechanism, but is possibly indicative of the importance of social or behavioural factors in women's infant feeding decisions (Amir and Donath, 2002).…”

Feeding and smoking habits as cumulative risk factors for early childhood caries in toddlers, after adjustment for several behavioral determinants: a retrospective study

“…The literature on the determinants of breastfeeding has [3-5] consistently identified maternal smoking as predictor of lower breastfeeding rates. Babies whose mothers reported smoking during pregnancy were less likely to be breastfed [6,7]. Moreover, the development of caries in children may be associated with prenatal maternal smoking and postnatal environmental smoke exposure [8-11].…”