Maternity care practices have been linked with higher chances of meeting breastfeeding intentions, but this relationship has not been examined using national data on US low-income women enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Using data from the WIC Infant and Toddler Feeding Practices Study-2 on 1080 women who intended to breastfeed, we estimated risk ratios for associations between (1) each of 6 maternity care practices supportive of breastfeeding (breastfeeding within 1 hour of birth, showing mothers how to breastfeed, giving only breast milk, rooming-in, breastfeeding on demand, no pacifiers), (2) each practice adjusted for all other practices, and (3) total number of practices experienced with whether women met their intention to feed only breast milk at 1 month old. Models were adjusted for demographics. Findings suggest that women who experienced maternity care practices supportive of breastfeeding were more likely to meet their prenatal breastfeeding intentions, underscoring the importance of breastfeeding support during the birth hospitalization in enabling mothers to achieve their breastfeeding goals.
References
Johnson A, Kirk R, Rosenblum KL, Muzik M. Enhancing breastfeeding rates among African American women: a systematic review of current psychosocial interventions. Breastfeed Med. 2015; 10(1):45–62.
Safon CB, Heeren TC, Kerr SMet al Disparities in breastfeeding among U.S. black mothers: Identification of mechanisms. Breastfeed Med. 2021; 16(2):140–149.
Hamner HC, Beauregard JL, Li R, Nelson JM, Perrine CG. Meeting breastfeeding intentions differ by race/ethnicity, Infant and Toddler Feeding Practices Study-2. Matern Child Nutr. 2021;17(2):e13093.
Please Sign in (or Register) to view further.