Maternal pre-pregnancy overweight/obesity and gestational diabetes interaction on delayed breastfeeding initiation

Cumulative evidence indicates an association between maternal overweight and gestational diabetes with delayed breastfeeding initiation; however, the presence of both conditions simultaneously has been little explored. This study aims to investigate the interaction between maternal overweight/obesity and gestational diabetes on breastfeeding initiation.

This study comprises data from the IVAPSA Birth Cohort, a prospective follow-up of mothers and their newborns. Two of the five groups from IVAPSA were evaluated, considering women with and without gestational diabetes. These women were further categorized according to their pre-pregnancy body mass index as normal weight or overweight/obese.

219 women were evaluated, 53.4% of them had pre-pregnancy overweight/obesity and 32% had gestational diabetes. Most women were able to initiate breastfeeding within 12 hours from delivery (92.7%) and only eight (3.7%) women had not breastfed in the first 24 hours postpartum. Of these, seven were overweight/obese (77.8%) and five had gestational diabetes (66.7%), with four of them having overweight/obesity and gestational diabetes concomitantly. Women with both adverse conditions had an adjusted relative risk of delayed breastfeeding initiation of 1.072 (95% CI 1.006; 1.141), p = 0.032.

The results indicate an additive interaction between maternal pre-pregnancy overweight/obesity and gestational diabetes on delayed breastfeeding initiation.