Mothers' attitudes to and experience of breast feeding: a primary care study

This study investigated the attitudes to breast feeding of women registered with 24 general practitioners in Nottingham. A total of 514 women were interviewed in the antenatal period and then followed up at six weeks and six months after the birth of their child. Seventy per cent of the women planned to breast feed their baby, 23% planned to bottle feed and 7% were undecided. Only 26 women changed their plans. Although 73% of the women interviewed began breast feeding, this had fallen to 49% by six weeks and 26% by six months. Logistic regression analysis showed that multiparae who had bottle fed or stopped breast feeding their previous child during the first six weeks were 5.15 times more likely to stop breast feeding in the first six weeks, than those who had breast fed their previous child for six weeks or more. Primiparae in social classes 3M, 4 or 5 or who were unemployed were 3.68 times more likely to stop than women in higher social classes, while those who said they had considered bottle feeding were 2.40 times more likely to stop. Most women gave an inadequate milk supply as a reason for stopping, but sore nipples were also a problem in the first six weeks. Of all the women who had started breast feeding 46% felt they did not have enough milk at some stage and despite the finding that 49% of those who sought advice from a health professional were advised to feed more often, 42% said they had been advised to give bottle feeds.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)