Significant inequalities in breastfeeding practices remain within the UK. White women are less likely to breastfeed and, for these women, partner and community ethnicity have an important relation to starting and continuing to breastfeed. Our findings suggest that public health strategies to increase breastfeeding need to be focussed on mothers who are young at first motherhood and address support offered by partners and the communities in which women live. Measures to evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies over time and between places should take account of changes in ethnic composition of the child-bearing population.
Data were obtained from the birth registry and Millennium Cohort Study for 11 890 of the 14 294 cohort children born in England and Wales. Weight was reported in imperial units by 84% of mothers and this was more common in younger mothers. Accuracy within 100 g was 92% overall, varying from 94% among British/Irish white mothers to 69-89% for other ethnic groups and was lower among the long-term unemployed and those living in disadvantaged or ethnic wards. Explanations (mostly rounding and transcription errors) were identified for 27% of the discrepancies of 100 g or more. Conclusion Mothers' reports of their infants' birth weight showed high level of agreement with registration data, the mean discrepancy being consistently close to zero. However, the variance of the discrepancy differed according to ethnic group, ward type, and socioeconomic status. These sources of differential variability should be taken into account in analyses using birth weight, and possibly other reported data, from socially mixed populations.
Objective To compare demographic, social, maternal, and infant related factors associated with partial immunisation and no immunisation in the first year of life in the United Kingdom. Design Prospective cohort study.
Policies to increase the proportion of maternity units participating in the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative are likely to increase breastfeeding initiation but not duration. Other strategies are required in order to support UK mothers to breastfeed for the recommended duration.
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