Determinants of breast-feeding in a Finnish birth cohort

Abstract

Objective: To assess milk feeding on the maternity ward and during infancy, and their relationship to sociodemographic determinants. The validity of our 3-month questionnaire in measuring hospital feeding was assessed. Design: A prospective Finnish birth cohort with increased risk to type 1 diabetes recruited between 1996 and 2004. The families completed a follow-up form on the age at introduction of new foods and age-specific dietary questionnaires. Setting: Type 1 Diabetes Prediction and Prevention (DIPP) project, Finland. Subjects: A cohort of 5993 children (77 % of those invited) participated in the main study, and 117 randomly selected infants in the validation study. Results: Breast milk was the predominant milk on the maternity ward given to 99 % of the infants. Altogether, 80 % of the women recalled their child being fed supplementary milk (donated breast milk or infant formula) on the maternity ward. The median duration of exclusive breast-feeding was 1?4 months (range 0-8) and that of total breast-feeding 7?0 months (0-25). Additional milk feeding on the maternity ward, short parental education, maternal smoking during pregnancy, small gestational age and having no siblings were associated with a risk of short duration of both exclusive and total breast-feeding. In the validation study, 78 % of the milk types given on the maternity ward fell into the same category, according to the questionnaire and hospital records. Conclusions: The recommendations for infant feeding were not achieved. Infant feeding is strongly influenced by sociodemographic determinants and feeding practices on the maternity wards. Long-term breast-feeding may be supported by active promotion on the maternity ward.

Predictive Models for Characterizing Disparities in Exclusive Breastfeeding Performance in a Multi-ethnic Population in the US

“…In agreement with previous observations [18,20,45], our results also indicated that maternal smoking during pregnancy and child's low birthweight (\2500 g) decreased the likelihood of ever XBR and XBR for 6 months, respectively. A review of maternal smoking and breastfeeding suggested that psychosocial factors rather than physiological ones are largely responsible for poor lactation performance in smoking women [46].…”

Optimal Periods of Exclusive Breastfeeding Associated with Any Breastfeeding Duration through One Year

“…9 Existing research consistently documents an association between longer duration of exclusive breastfeeding and longer duration of any breastfeeding, and shorter duration of exclusive breastfeeding is associated with early breastfeeding cessation. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16] However, methods used to define duration of exclusive breastfeeding vary. Most studies dichotomized or categorized durations ranging from 1 day through 4 months postpartum rather than treating exclusive breastfeeding duration as a continuous variable.…”

Breast-Feeding in Infancy and Major Depression in Adulthood: A Retrospective Analysis

“…The risk for major depression was considerably increased in bottle-fed compared to breast-fed subjects (OR: 2.00; CI: 1.28–3.12; table 1). Controlling for risk factors of depression and maternal education known to be related to breast-feeding [10], we found bottle-feeding (B = 1.12, p = 0.005), but not age, gender and maternal education (∣B∣ ≤ 0.30, NS) to be related to depression.…”