The association between cesarean delivery on maternal request and method of newborn feeding in China

Cesarean delivery has increased significantly during the last decades. This study aimed to investigate the association between planned mode of delivery and method of feeding.

A cohort was created retrospectively using data from a population-based maternal and child health surveillance system, which covers 27 study sites in China from 1993 to 2006. The cohort consisted of 431,704 women for analysis, including 22,462 women with planned cesarean delivery on maternal request (CDMR) and 409,242 women with planned vaginal delivery (VD). Logistic regression models were used to examine the association between mode of delivery and method of feeding adjusting for selected covariates. In this cohort, 398,176 (92.2%) women exclusively breastfed their baby, 28,798 (6.7%) women chose mixed feeding, and 4,730 (1.1%) women chose formula feeding before hospital discharge. Women who planned CDMR were less likely to exclusively breastfeed and more likely to formula feed their babies than those who planned VD. After adjusting for covariates, the odds ratios were 0.85 (95% CI: 0.81-0.89) for exclusive breastfeeding and 1.61 (95% CI: 1.45-1.79) for formula feeding. Associations between planned mode of delivery and method of feeding in the south, north, rural and urban areas yielded similar results.

This study demonstrated that planned CDMR was associated with a lower rate of exclusive breastfeeding and a higher rate of formula feeding in a low-risk Chinese population.