HOSPITAL INFANT FORMULA DISCHARGE PACKAGES - DO THEY AFFECT THE DURATION OF BREAST-FEEDING

Objective: To determine whether the duration of breastfeeding is affec ted by the contents of the hospital discharge package. Design: A rando mized clinical trial with 2 experimental interventions (a discharge pa ckage containing a manual breast pump only and a discharge package con taining a commercially prepared infant formula and a manual breast pum p) and a control group who received a commercially prepared infant for mula discharge package only. Sociodemographic characteristics and info rmation concerning prior births (including feeding methods) were obtai ned from each mother within 48 hours of her infant's birth. Sources of influence on the mother's feeding decision, maternal attitudes concer ning breastfeeding, and maternal feeding preferences were also assesse d. Participants: The sample consisted of 763 women who had given birth who were admitted to the maternal-fetal unit of a midwestern communit y hospital. Main Outcome Measures: Information concerning current meth od of infant feeding was obtained from telephone interviews conducted at 2-week intervals until the infant was 16 weeks old. The data were a nalyzed using descriptive statistics, multivariate analysis of varianc e, logistic regression analysis, and survival analysis. Results: The c ontent of the hospital discharge package did not affect whether the mo ther engaged in exclusive or partial breast-feeding during the 16-week follow-up interval. However, there was some evidence that providing f ormula samples at discharge from the hospital increased the duration o f exclusive breast-feeding compared with providing a manual breast pum p. Conclusion: This study does not support the assumption that inclusi on of infant formula in hospital discharge packages decreases the dura tion of breastfeeding.