In-Hospital Breastfeeding Experiences Among Women with Gestational Diabetes

In-hospital experiences among women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) could impact breastfeeding success. We sought (1) to determine changes in the prevalence of hospital breastfeeding experiences between 2004-2008 and 2009-2011 among women with GDM and women without diabetes; (2) to determine whether GDM is associated with higher occurrence of experiencing Baby-Friendly hospital practices because of their known higher rates of breastfeeding difficulties.

Data from the 2004 to 2011 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, a survey of women with a recent live birth from 16 states and New York City, were used based on inclusion of an optional survey question about hospital breastfeeding experiences. We examined the association of in-hospital experiences with GDM within each survey phase using chi-square tests. Weighted multivariable logistic regression was used to determine the association between GDM and hospital breastfeeding experiences.

Among 157,187 (8.8% GDM), there were crude differences by GDM status for at least 60% of hospital experiences despite increases in positive hospital experiences between time periods. Women with GDM were less likely to report breastfeeding in the first hour (adjusted odds ratio: 0.83, confidence interval [95% CI] 0.73-0.94), feeding only breast milk in the hospital (0.73, 0.65-0.82), and feeding on demand (0.86, 0.74-0.99) compared with women without diabetes. Women with GDM were significantly more likely to report receiving a pump (1.28, 1.07-1.53) and a formula gift pack (1.17, 1.03-1.34) compared with women without diabetes.

Although women with GDM experienced improvements in-hospital breastfeeding experiences over time, disparities in breastfeeding practices remained for five in-patient (hospital) practices that included four negative practices (breastfeeding in the first hour, feeding only breast milk in the hospital, told to feed per mother's preference, receiving a formula gift pack) and one positive practice (receiving a pump).