Early life factors associated with the exclusivity and duration of breast feeding in an Irish birth cohort study

Using text messaging to obtain weekly data on infant feeding in a Danish birth cohort resulted in high participation rates

“…Baby-led weaning has been suggested to be a predictor of late weaning, but this association has not yet been substantiated (27,28). The duration of parental leave may affect both the timing of the introduction to complementary foods as well as the overall duration of breastfeeding (29).…”

The impact of short‐term predominate breastfeeding on cognitive outcome at 5 years

“…Despite the known benefits associated with breastfeeding, the rate of exclusive breastfeeding up to 6 months is low globally, with approximately 40% of 0‐6 month‐old infants being exclusively breastfed. Ireland is not an exception, as demonstrated in the Cork BASELINE birth cohort study and the Growing up in Ireland study, which both reported very low rates of exclusive breastfeeding beyond the first few months of life . The BASELINE study reported an exclusive breastfeeding rate of 0.7% (7/966) at 6 months, while the Growing up in Ireland study reported 5.5% (weighted; 6.4% (710/11,131) unweighted) .…”

“…Ireland is not an exception, as demonstrated in the Cork BASELINE birth cohort study and the Growing up in Ireland study, which both reported very low rates of exclusive breastfeeding beyond the first few months of life . The BASELINE study reported an exclusive breastfeeding rate of 0.7% (7/966) at 6 months, while the Growing up in Ireland study reported 5.5% (weighted; 6.4% (710/11,131) unweighted) . This variance in exclusive breastfeeding rates may be due to the different criteria used to define exclusive breastfeeding.…”

Factors associated with infants receiving their mother's own breast milk on discharge from hospital in a unit where pasteurised donor human milk is available

“…Many factors have the potential to influence whether a mother successfully breastfeeds their very preterm infant. Factors associated with a greater proportion of preterm babies successfully breastfeeding include older maternal age [20][21][22] ; early initiation of breastfeeding 23 ; higher parity 21,[24][25][26] ; higher socio-economic and educational status 20,21,24,27 ; marital status as married 28 ; and a range of practices including skin-to-skin post delivery, 29 implementation of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative, [30][31][32] maternal breastfeeding education, bedside nursing and lactation practitioners support, 21,22,29,[33][34][35][36][37][38] the practice of kangaroo mother care, 32,39-41 the use of pacifiers and lullabies 42 and the practice of pre-feed oral stimulation. 43 Conversely, factors associated with a smaller proportion of preterm babies successfully breastfeeding include prematurity and low birthweight, 20,21,25,32,[44][45][46] prolonged length of hospital stay, 20,21,25,26,44,45 multiple pregnancy, 20 chronic neonatal lung dis...…”