The relative importance of social class and maternal education for breast-feeding initiation

Abstract

Objective: To examine changes in breast-feeding take-up rates among young children in Scotland and to assess whether maternal education or occupationbased social class is a stronger and better predictor of breast-feeding take-up. Design: Binary logistic regression models were developed from the first sweep of the Growing Up in Scotland longitudinal survey, for the two cohorts of children. Results: Mothers from more privileged social classes and those with more educational qualifications resulted as more likely to breast-feed. However, maternal education was a better and more robust predictor of breast-feeding take-up compared with social class. There were no significant differences in breast-feeding take-up between the two cohorts and only minor differences between mothers aged 20-29 years and those who stated an intention to bottle-feed prior to birth. Conclusions: The study suggests that the importance of maternal education in influencing breast-feeding has been somewhat overlooked in research based in more developed countries. The results indicate that, compared with occupationrelated social class, maternal education is a more informative, accurate and useful lens through which to understand and explain patterns of breast-feeding take-up. Keywords Infant feeding Lactation Education Social classGrowing policy attention has been paid to the nutrition of infants and the importance of breast milk for child development. Policy documents are based on a wealth of national and international research indicating the positive health outcomes of breast-feeding for mother and child (1)(2)(3)(4) . At an international level, documents like the WHO Innocenti Declaration (5) and the European Commission's Protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding in Europe (6) reflect the supranational impetus in promoting breast-feeding. At a UK-wide level, this is seen with programmes such as the UK Baby Friendly Initiative. At the Scottish level, the Scottish Joint Breastfeeding Initiative and the Infant Feeding Strategy for Scotland (7) reflect a policy agenda which acknowledges the importance of breast-feeding in improving children's chances for a healthy future. More importantly, Scotland recently introduced the Breastfeeding etc. (Scotland) Act 2005, thus becoming the first nation where breast-feeding has become a legal right (8) . This makes Scotland a unique and interesting platform for research on infant feeding.Despite this policy impetus, a recent Scottish Government research report based on Millennium Cohort Study data showed that breast-feeding take-up in Scotland was low at 64?7 %, and notably lower than in England at 72?2 % (9) . A series of national and international initiatives have endorsed breast-feeding, but it appears that mothers, particularly in Scotland, are less inclined towards the breast-feeding option. While maternal education and social class go some way in explaining differences in breast-feeding trends, there seem to be independent policy-related or socio-cultural elements at work which make mot...

Does Maternal Education Really Improve Child Health?

“…Skafida etal acknowledges the importance of maternal education on breastfeeding and found that higher educational qualifications are associated with an increased rate of breast feeding take up [7].…”

Práticas alimentares no primeiro ano de vida e fatores associados em amostra representativa da cidade de Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul

“…Os lactentes cujas mães possuíam emprego fora de casa apresentaram maior frequência de consumo de vegetais e leguminosas. Com exceção do feijão, o maior nível de escolaridade foi associado ao menor consumo de alimentos considerados impró-prios para essa faixa etária, pois essas mulheres possivelmente têm maior acesso às informações sobre práticas alimentares saudáveis 31 . Esse aspecto pode ser observado no trabalho realizado por Corrêa et al 32 , na cidade de Florianópolis (SC), em que as mães com menos de oito anos de estudo apresentaram o dobro de chance de oferecerem alimentos do grupo dos doces (açúcar de adição, bolachas, pudins e gelatinas) para os filhos.…”

Infant feeding in relation to eating patterns in the second year of life and weight status in the fourth year

“…Eating patterns and behaviours in infants and young children are influenced by complex interrelated factors such as cultural beliefs (1) , parental or child interactions and feeding styles (2)(3)(4)(5) , as well as the parent's or primary caregiver's education, experiences, attitudes and social and economic circumstances (6)(7)(8) .…”