The Influence of Early‐Term Birth on NICU Admission, Length of Stay, and Breastfeeding Initiation and Duration

Association between early‐term birth and breastfeeding initiation, duration, and exclusivity: A systematic review

“…The characteristics of the included studies are described in Table . Four studies were conducted in the United States, two studies in Canada, and one each in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Brazil . Eight of the nine selected studies were conducted in high‐income countries, and one study was conducted in an upper‐middle‐income country according to the World Bank classification .…”

“…All of the included studies had large cohorts with sample sizes ranging from 1860 to 242 471 participants. Eight studies had national samples or population representative samples . One study used a voluntary response sampling method to recruit participants, which resulted in a sample with higher socioeconomic status than that of the general population (ie, a higher proportion of participants who were Caucasian, married, older, and more educated, and had private insurance) .…”

“…Two studies did not directly recruit participants as data were retrieved from a population‐based information system . The majority of the studies started recruitment after the early postpartum period . One study recruited participants in the antenatal period and one during the postpartum hospital stay .…”

“…One study recruited participants in the antenatal period and one during the postpartum hospital stay . Four studies recruited participants by sending online or mail surveys, with recruitment times ranging from 2 months to 18 months postpartum . Most participants were the child's mother except for one study that included the parent who knew the child best .…”

“…The characteristics of participants varied between studies. One study included only primiparous mothers, while the other studies did not use parity as a selection criterion . Six out of nine studies included participants with singleton births only .…”