Severe physical violence between intimate partners during pregnancy: a risk factor for early cessation of exclusive breast-feeding

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the role of severe physical violence during pregnancy (SPVP) between intimate partners in early cessation of exclusive breast-feeding (EBF). Design: A health services survey. The revised Conflict Tactics Scale was used to characterize SPVP; premature breast-feeding cessation was identified using a current status data approach, which was based on the information reported from food recall during the preceding 7 d. The cumulative hazard function was estimated by complementary log-log transformation models, which allowed the ensuing estimation of early breast-feeding cessation rates in different age groups and the ratio of rates of weaning between women exposed and not exposed to violence. Setting: Five large public primary health-care facilities of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Subjects: The sample comprised 811 randomly selected mothers of children under 5 months of age who were waiting to be consulted. Results: SPVP is an independent risk factor of cessation of EBF since, after controlling for socio-economic, demographic, reproductive and lifestyle variables, women exposed to violence presented an incidence density that was 31 % higher than those who were not exposed (hazard ratio 5 1?30, 95 % CI 1?01, 1?69). Conclusions: The findings corroborate the hypothesis that SPVP is an important risk factor for EBF. This indicates the need for incentives to adequately train healthcare personnel in dealing with lactating women in order to gain a broader view of breast-feeding beyond the biological aspects of lactation, including the maternal psychological dimension.

Intimate partner violence and early interruption of exclusive breastfeeding in the first three months of life

“…These findings are Table 1 Characteristics of study subjects in the second month of life (n = 564 consistent with other research 10,11,12 . ZureickBrown et al 11 indicate that mothers exposed to physical or sexual abuse were more likely to offer solid foods to their children in the 24 hours prior to the interview.…”

“…Studies generally recognize the importance of maternal mental health and social networks and social support 8,9 . However, there are few and inconsistent results concerning the relationship between intimate partner violence and infant feeding practices 10,11,12 . The literature on this topic is largely based on cross-sectional studies on breastfeeding that uses wide age brackets, such as infants from birth to four or six months 12 .…”

Prevalência de violência por parceiro íntimo relatada por puérperas

“…(23) In 2009, a research carried out in the city of Rio de Janeiro (Southeastern Brazil) with the aim of estimating the prevalence of physical violence between intimate partners, found a rate of 37.8% during pregnancy and 16.1% in the first months after birth. (28) Physical violence is more prevalent in the postpartum period too, ranging between 1.2% and 19.7%, different from what was found in this study, in which this event occurs with greater prevalence during pregnancy. (29) These different results should be interpreted with caution due to different methodologies used, data collection instruments, composition of samples and period when interviews were conducted, which impairs comparability, especially with respect to the types of violence studied.…”

Effect of physical intimate partner violence on body mass index in low-income adult women

“…Intimate partner violence has serious consequences at the individual level, harming the victim's physical and mental health, and the family and social levels 7,8,9,10 . Since the early 2000s, studies have investigated a possible association between experiencing situations of family violence and individual nutritional status.…”