Early cessation of breast milk feeding in very low birthweight infants

This investigation was carried out to comparatively assess the duration of breast milk feeding and to analyze risk factors for early cessation of brea st milk feeding in term and very preterm infants. A cohort study was perfor med in 89 consecutive very low birthweight (VLBW) infants (< 1500 g) who su rvived for at least for one week, and 177 term infants with birthweights > 2500 g born in the same hospital matched for gender and multiplicity. Media n duration of breast milk feeding, as determined from charts and questionna ires mailed to the mothers at 6 and 12 months corrected age, was 36 days in VLBW infants, compared to 112 days in control infants (P < 0.0001). In bot h VLBW and control infants, smoking during pregnancy, low maternal and low paternal school education were each significantly associated with short dur ation of breast milk feeding. In VLBW infants, multiple pregnancy and gesta tional age < 29 weeks were each associated with prolonged breast milk feedi ng, as were maternal age > 35 years and spontaneous pregnancy (as opposed t o pregnancy following infertility treatment) in term infants. Multivariate analysis revealed that VLBW, smoking and low parental school education were independent negative predictors of breast milk feeding. While these result s emphasize the need for special support of VLBW infant mothers promoting l actation, the relationships between smoking, school education and breast mi lk feeding in both strata show that efforts to increase breast milk feeding require a public health perspective. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd . All rights reserved.