Factors associated with exclusive breast-feeding and breast-feeding in Norway

Abstract

Objective: To identify factors associated with exclusive breast-feeding and breastfeeding during the first year of life among Norwegian infants. Design: Data on breast-feeding practices were collected by a semi-quantitative FFQ. Setting: In 2006-2007 about 3000 infants were invited to participate in a populationbased prospective cohort study in Norway. Subjects: A total of 1490 mothers/infants participated at both 6 and 12 months of age. Results: Exclusive breast-feeding at 4 months was associated with parental education, parity and geographical region, while exclusive breast-feeding at 5?5 months was associated only with maternal age. At both ages, a negative association with exclusive breast-feeding was observed for maternal smoking. Breast-feeding at 6 months was associated with parental education, maternal age and marital status. Breast-feeding at 12 months was associated with maternal education, maternal age and number of children. At both ages, negative associations with breast-feeding were observed for maternal smoking and descending birth weight. At 12 months, a negative association was also observed for having day care by other than the parents. Conclusions: Even though Norway has an extensive and positive breast-feeding tradition and a maternal leave system that supports the possibility to breast-feed, factors like maternal education, maternal age and maternal smoking are strongly associated with duration of exclusive breast-feeding and breast-feeding. Research to better understand the reasons for inequalities in breast-feeding is needed to facilitate the development of more effective breast-feeding promotion strategies. This again may improve compliance with recommendations and reduce inequalities in infant feeding practices.Keywords Exclusive breast-feeding Breast-feeding Infant feeding practices Adequate nutrition during infancy and early childhood is essential to ensure growth, health and development of children to reach their full potential. Breast milk strongly contributes to good health and nutrition of infants. Apart from being an excellent nutritional source for the growing child, breast milk is associated with a reduced risk of many diseases in infants and mothers. A recent review by Duijts et al. (1) points out that a number of studies in industrialised countries suggest that breast-feeding protects infants against overall infections, gastrointestinal and respiratory tract infections. Moreover, Ip et al. (2) reported long-term benefits of breast-feeding for infants to be reduced risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes in later life, and long-term benefits for breast-feeding mothers to be reduced risk of breast and ovarian cancers.The initiation and duration of exclusive breast-feeding and breast-feeding are influenced by a number of factors. Although the factors that influence the initiation and duration of breast-feeding in developed countries have been broadly studied (3)(4)(5) , previous studies in these countries have rarely examined the factors associated with exclusive breast-feedi...

Breastfeeding skills in Arba Minch Zuria: The positioning and attachment initiatives

“…Women need full support of their families and government to feed their children and family appropriately. Studies also found the positive trends of optimal child feeding improvement with paternal education status (Tamiru et al, 2012;Rea et al, 1999;Tamiru et al, 2012;Law et al, 2007;Kristiansen et al, 2010).…”

Amming kartlagt ved rutinedata

“…I den tidligere studien var det imidlertid betydelig lavere deltakelse og derfor risiko for at funnet ikke var representativt for befolkningen. I vår studie var andelen som fullammet derimot høyere både seks uker og seks måneder etter fødselen, sammenliknet med tidligere norske studier (11,20) og undersøkelser fra utlandet (4,26).…”

“…Andre har også rapportert at det er ORIGINALARTIKKEL faerre barn med lav fødselsvekt som ammes lenge (20), til tross for at amming på kort og på lang sikt kan vaere spesielt gunstig for disse (4). Det at de fleste mødrene som røykte hadde sluttet å amme seks måneder etter fød-selen, er også i samsvar med tidligere studier (11,13). Dette indikerer at grupper med risikofaktorer som beskrevet over kan ha behov for spesiell oppfølging ved helsestasjonen.…”

“…Dette er i tråd med studier fra andre land, som viser at all form for ekstra støtte i forbindelse med amming øker forekomsten (14). Ved seks ukers alder var det ingen signifikant forskjell, det skyldes trolig at forekomsten av tidlig amming i Norge er svaert høy uansett kvinnenes bakgrunn (6,11,14).…”

Composition of the early intestinal microbiota

“…Presently, Scandinavian countries have some of the highest levels of breastfeeding with, for example, recent data for Norway suggesting that 96% of infants are breastfed at birth, of which 84% are exclusively breastfed. 75 In comparison to these high levels, many developed countries have much lower rates of breastfeeding, with recent Irish data suggesting that rates of exclusive breastfeeding currently stand at just 47% at hospital discharge and drop to between 6.5 and 9.4% of women partially breastfeeding during the first 6 months of the infant's life. 76 In the USA, the 2007 National Immunization Survey found that at 3 months of age, just 33% of infants were exclusively breastfed, and that this level falls further at 6 mo to just 13% being exclusively breastfed.…”