Predictors of anticipated breastfeeding in an urban, low-income setting

BACKGROUND Although the proportion of women who breastfeed is known to vary by demographic group, breastfeeding practices have not been sufficiently s tudied among urban, lower income African American populations seen in famil y medicine centers. METHODS A cross-sectional design was used to examine demographic, clinical, and attitudinal factors that affect anticipated infant feeding practices r eported by postpartum women from a low-income, urban family practice settin g, Data was analyzed using chi-square, odds ratios (OR), and multiple logis tic regression techniques. RESULTS Among 66 respondents, only 3 subjects (4.5%) indicated that they pl anned to breastfeed exclusively, while an additional 11 subjects (16.7%) re ported plans to use a combination of bottle-feeding and breastfeeding. Base d on univariate analyses, women with less than 12 years of education were l ess likely to report anticipated breastfeeding. Otherwise, breastfeeding pl ans were not associated with subject demographic features or with reproduct ive characteristics. Respondents planning to bottle-feed noted that breastf eeding was too complicated. Logistic regression demonstrated an inverse rel ationship between level of maternal education and anticipated breastfeeding (OR=0.13, 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.05-0.35), and a direct associati on for encouragement from the baby's father or the woman's mother to breast feed and anticipated breastfeeding (OR=12.4; 95% CI, 4.92-31.4). CONCLUSIONS This study reports unique data regarding anticipated infant fee ding practices among patients from an urban, low-income community served by a family medicine center. Findings from this study will be used to develop a family-centered educational intervention involving the mothers, grandmot hers, and partners of pregnant patients to promote the benefits of breastfe eding in this community.