A community study of a decade of in-hospital breast-feeding: implications for breast-feeding promotion

Information concerning a subject of interest to the health community may be gathered through simple, low-cost minisurveys. Data were gathered on postpartum breast-feeding in one community in 1974, 1979, and 1984. This community mirrored national trends and offered additional information on areas of programmatic interest; findings also confirmed the hypothesis that education and national trends over time had statistically significant relationships with the choice to breast-feed. Of special note is the finding that the level of knowledge concerning infant feeding is closely linked to the choice to breast-feed, as is the relationship between the primary influence of another woman and the choice to breast-feed. With level of education controlled for, both associated variables remained significant for women with lower levels of education, the group least likely to select breast-feeding. This would suggest the probable advantage of breast-feeding promotion based on woman-to-woman contact during preconception and antepartum periods; such a program might be particularly effective with women of lower educational levels.