Mothers who Formula Feed: Their Practices, Support Needs and Factors Influencing their Infant Feeding Decision

Abstract

Tarrant Mothers who formula feed: their practices, support needs and factors influencing their infant feeding decision. Child Care in Practice 19(1), 78-94.Page 1 Manuscript title: 'Mothers who formula feed: their practices, support needs and factors influencing their infant feeding decision'Authors:(1) Roslyn C. Tarrant AbstractThe majority of mothers in Ireland provide formula milk to their infants during the initial weeks postpartum; however, data are lacking on their formula feeding practices and support needs.This prospective Dublin-based observational study, which included 450 eligible mother-term infant pairs recruited and followed up to 6 months postpartum, aimed to advance our understanding of maternal formula feeding practices, their reasons for deciding to formula feed, sources of feeding information and perceived support needs; insights into infant formula milk consumption patterns in relation to current feeding guidelines are also provided. In summary, the vast majority of infants at 6 weeks were provided with formula milk (n = 368; 81.8%). Positive maternal perceptions of formula feeding were among the most frequently reported reasons underlying mothers' decision to formula feed (e.g. convenience, 17.3%).Potential public health concerns over the large formula milk volumes consumed by infants (mean 205ml/kilogram/day) relative to infant feeding guidelines (150ml/kilogram/day) were raised from this study. Some mothers continue to add solid foods to infant bottle feeds at 6 weeks (3.8%) and 6 months (6%), a non-recommended feeding practice posing a choking risk for infants. Crucially, this study highlights the need to provide greater support and information to mothers who decide to formula feed postpartum including practical information on sterilisation and formula reconstitution. While breastfeeding promotion and research continues to be a public health priority in Ireland, addressing the support and information needs of mothers who formula feed, an underrepresented and understudied population in the literature, also needs to be considered to ensure optimal health and safety for their infants.Mothers who formula feed 2013 Mothers who formula feed: their practices, support needs and factors influencing their infant feeding decision.

Factors Affecting Infant Formula Feeding in Infants Aged 0-6 Months in Sukoharjo, Central Java

“…The results of this study are in accordance with a study conducted by Tarrant et al (2013) which suggested that a positive maternal percentage of formula feeding is one of the most frequent reasons underlying maternal decisions on infant formula feeding.…”

Infant formula feeding practices in a prospective population based study

“…One Irish study did descriptively report the type of infant formula used by parent(s) 6 weeks following delivery [13]. The study involved term (≥37 +0 weeks’ gestation) singleton infants born with a birthweight of 2.5 kg or greater.…”

“…The World Health Organization (WHO) recommend that infant feeding practices are regularly monitored [7] but the literature on type of infant formula practices, in comparison to breastfeeding practices, is scant [8–13]. To our knowledge only one study [13] reported the use of standard whey-based infant formula at 6 weeks postpartum but did not examine the use of standard whey-based infant formula throughout the first year of life.…”

“…To our knowledge only one study [13] reported the use of standard whey-based infant formula at 6 weeks postpartum but did not examine the use of standard whey-based infant formula throughout the first year of life.…”

Knowledge, Intention, Practice, and Perceived Barriers of Breastfeeding among Married Working Women in Kuwait

“…A study done inIreland showed that breastfeeding intiation rates of the non-Irish nationals were significantly higher than the Irish nationals (80% vs. 47%, respectively) [18].Both Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaitis have introduced formula feeding in the first three months in this study.This finding is consistent with several others which showed that, in practice, women would introduce formula or other milk within the first 3 months of breastfeeding [19,20].…”