Objective. To report the duration of and factors associated with exclusive and any breastfeeding among the French-speaking community of Belgium (Wallonia). Material and Methods. A two-stage cluster sample was drawn from the population of children aged 18–24 months living in the area in 2012. Anamnestic data on breastfeeding and sociodemographic information were collected from 525 mothers. Cox's proportional hazards model was used to identify factors associated with discontinuing breastfeeding. Results and Discussion. Only 35.1% of the women were satisfied with their duration of any breastfeeding. At 3 months, 54.1% of the infants were breastfed, of which 40.6% exclusively, with these percentages falling to 29.1% and 12.6% at 6 months. Exclusive and any breastfeeding durations were independently positively associated (P < 0.05) with foreign-born mothers, awareness of WHO recommendations, and maternity leave >3 months. Exclusive BF duration was associated with higher parental income and the prenatal decision to breastfeed. The duration of any breastfeeding was associated with the mothers' age of ≥30 years and whether they were exclusively breastfeeding at discharge from the maternity unit. Conclusions. Programs promoting and supporting BF should concentrate on training prenatal health-care professionals. Prenatal professional advice may promote adherence to WHO BF guidelines. The benefits of exclusive BF should be emphasized. Pregnant women should be discouraged from introducing supplementary feeding in the maternity ward.
Objective and Method. To report on the weaning reasons at the maternity ward, at 3, 6, and 12 months and to report the socioeconomic characteristics of mothers not satisfied with breastfeeding duration as well as of those who have weaned their child because of perceived insufficient milk (PIM). Two cross-sectional studies were performed in 2012. Results. 62.9% of mothers in Wallonia and 56.8% in Brussels are dissatisfied with the duration of breastfeeding. In the two regions, younger mothers, ignoring the WHO recommendations, having a low level of education, or thinking not having sufficient milk production, were more likely to be dissatisfied. According to the analysed period, PIM and return to work are the two leading causes of weaning. While in Brussels PIM seemed to be associated only with partial BF at the maternity ward, in Wallonia, PIM was associated with a less educated environment and with ignoring the WHO recommendations. Conclusions. Too many mothers, especially destitute, are dissatisfied. They more often evoke PIM as reason for weaning. However, the literature shows that the real lack of milk only affects 1–5% of the mothers. Professionals need to be better informed of this discrepancy between mothers' perception and physiology. They should be more supportive, especially among more precarious mothers.
Methods and Objectives. To estimate infant vaccination coverage in the French-speaking region of Belgium (Wallonia) and in the Brussels-Capital Region, two cross-sectional studies were performed in 2012. A face-to-face questionnaire was administered by trained investigators. The objective was to evaluate infant vaccination coverage retrospectively in 18- to 24-month-old children. These studies offered the opportunity to assess some factors influencing vaccine uptake in infants. Results and Discussion. Approximately 99% of the children had received the first dose of IPV-DTaP, 90% the fourth dose, 94% the MMR vaccine, 97% the first dose of pneumococcal vaccine, and 90% the third dose. In both regions, when fitting a logistic model, the most associated factor was attendance at maternal and child clinics (MCH). No association was observed between vaccination coverage and the mother's level of education. For the last immunization session, where the mother was a Belgian native and when she worked more hours, child was better immunized, but only in Brussels. Conclusion. Coverage for the fourth dose of hexavalent vaccine (DTaP-IPV-HBV/Hib) needs to be increased. Indeed, additional effort is needed to increase HIB and pertussis coverage rates because the herd immunity threshold for these two diseases has not been reached.
A retrospective cross‐sectional study was carried out in Wallonia (the southern region of Belgium) in which a 20‐question breastfeeding (BF) module was included in an immunization survey. The purpose of this paper is to compare exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) prevalences and BF practices for mothers giving birth in Baby‐friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) and non‐BFHI maternity facilities. A total of 557 mothers responded to BF questions when their child was 18–24 months old; 26.7% of them delivered in a BFHI maternity facility. At discharge, a larger proportion of children were exclusively breastfed if they were born in a BFHI maternity facility (76.5% vs. 65.8%, p = .02). The median duration of EBF (15.0 vs. 12.9 weeks, p = .3), and the proportion of children exclusively breastfed at 5 months (16.8% vs 15.8%, p = 1.0) were similar in both groups. Few mothers knew that EBF was recommended for the first 6 months of life (28.6% in BFHI vs 23.1% in non‐BFHI, p = .2). For most groups of the population examined, the rates of BF tended to be higher in BFHI facilities, but many differences were not significant. More specifically, BFHI seemed to boost BF practices among mothers more likely to breastfeed, but the Initiative did not seem to trigger enhanced BF practices in mothers traditionally less likely to breastfeed (except for indifferent/negative partner's attitude and mothers of Belgian origin). Influencing the BF practices of mothers less likely to breastfeed requires a special attention with complementary actions in maternity facilities as well as in community services.
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