Breastfeeding versus Formula Feeding: Main Reasons and Determinants

Document Type : original article

Authors

1 Department of Pediatrics,Clinical Research Development Unit, Hajar Hospital, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran

2 Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

3 Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Background: It is critical to identify the factors that influence mothers' decision to discontinue breastfeeding and use formula. The purpose of this study is to compare the characteristics of breast-fed and formula-fed subgroups in order to identify the factors influencing the discontinuation of exclusive breastfeeding in a group of Iranian infants.
Methods: The data of the two groups of women who fed their infants with breast milk (n = 275) or formula (n = 275) were gathered by the use of a questionnaire including questions regarding maternal demographics, breastfeeding-related problems, infant disorders, and factors that influence formula preference. Face-to-face interviews with the mothers of the children were used to obtain the questionnaire data by a trained interviewer. In SPSS version 22, descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data.
Results: Lack of weight gain (32.8 %), inadequate breast milk (51.3 %), return to work (9.1%), teething (0.7%), mothers' disorders (3.6 %), and infants' disorders (2.5 %) were the most common reasons for starting formula feeding. Physicians (34.5 % versus 21.5 %), health providers (26.5 % versus 30.5 %), health assistants (26.9% versus 26.7 %), and books (12.0 % versus 16.7%) are the main sources of information about the types of infantile feeding in the groups of mothers who use formula or breast-feeding, indicating a significant difference between the sources used by the two groups (p = 0.001).
Conclusion: Formula use is primarily motivated by two factors: apprehension over the insufficiency of breastfeeding and a lack of time to do so. As a result, comprehensive education for mothers about the necessary cases of formula feeding is critical

Keywords

References

  1. Shamir R. The benefits of breastfeeding. Protein in Neonatal and Infant Nutrition: Recent Updates. 2016; 86:67-76.
  2. Henrick BM, Yao XD, Nasser L, Roozrogousheh A, Rosenthal KL. Breastfeeding Behaviors and the Innate Immune System of Human Milk: Working Together to Protect Infants against Inflammation, HIV-1, and Other Infections. Frontiers in immunology. 2017; 8:1631.
  3. Dieterich CM, Felice JP, O’Sullivan E, Rasmussen KM. Breastfeeding and health outcomes for the mother-infant dyad. Pediatric Clinics. 2013; 60(1):31-48.
  4. Kuehn B. Breastfeeding report card. Jama. 2018; 320(14):1426-.
  5. Haghighi M, Abbasi R. The Relationship between Emotional Intelligence (EI) and Breastfeeding Success in Lactating Mothers. International Journal of Pediatrics. 2015; 3(2.1):15-21.
  6. Smith ER, Hurt L, Chowdhury R, Sinha B, Fawzi W, Edmond KM, Neovita Study Group. Delayed breastfeeding initiation and infant survival: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PloS one. 2017; 12(7):e0180722.
  7. Knowledge of Breastfeeding Recommendations and Breastfeeding Duration: A Survival Analysis on Infant Feeding Practices II. Breastfeeding Medicine. 2017; 12(3):156-62.
  8. Kaur A, Singh K, Pannu M, Singh P, Sehgal N, Kaur R. The effect of exclusive breastfeeding on hospital stay and morbidity due to various diseases in infants under 6 months of age: a prospective observational study. International journal of pediatrics. 2016; 2016.
  9. Hanson LÅ. Session 1: Feeding and infant development Breast-feeding and immune function: Symposium on ‘Nutrition in early life: new horizons in a new century’. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. 2007; 66(3):384-96.
  10. Sankar MJ, Sinha B, Chowdhury R, Bhandari N, Taneja S, Martines J, Bahl R. Optimal breastfeeding practices and infant and child mortality: a systematic review and meta‐analysis. Acta paediatrica. 2015; 104:3-13.
  11. Prell C, Koletzko B. Breastfeeding and complementary feeding: recommendations on infant nutrition. Deutsches Ärzteblatt International. 2016; 113(25):435.
  12. Garner CD, Ratcliff SL, Thornburg LL, Wethington E, Howard CR, Rasmussen KM. Discontinuity of breastfeeding care:“There's no captain of the ship”. Breastfeeding Medicine. 2016; 11(1):32-9.
  13. Behzadifar M, Saki M, Behzadifar M, Mardani M, Yari F, Ebrahimzadeh F, Majidi Mehr H, Abdi Bastami S, Bragazzi NL. Prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding practice in the first six months of life and its determinants in Iran: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC pediatrics. 2019; 19(1):1-10.
  14. Rabiepoor S, Hamidiazar P, Sadeghi E. The relationship between type of delivery and successful breastfeeding. International Journal of Pediatrics. 2017; 5(5):4899-907.
  15. Pierro J, Abulaimoun B, Roth P, Blau J. Factors associated with supplemental formula feeding of breastfeeding infants during postpartum hospital stay. Breastfeeding Medicine. 2016; 11(4):196-202.
  16. Boban M, Zakarija-Grković I. In-hospital formula supplementation of healthy newborns: practices, reasons, and their medical justification. Breastfeeding Medicine. 2016; 11(9):448-54.
  17. Gagnon AJ, Leduc G, Waghorn K, Yang H, Platt RW. In-hospital formula supplementation of healthy breastfeeding newborns. Journal of Human Lactation. 2005; 21(4):397-405.
  18. Tadesse F, Alemayehu Y, Shine S, Asresahegn H, Tadesse T. Exclusive breastfeeding and maternal employment among mothers of infants from three to five months old in the Fafan zone, Somali regional state of Ethiopia: a comparative cross-sectional study. BMC public health. 2019; 19(1):1015.
  19. Abuhammad S, Johnson T. Potential impact of breastfeeding and maternal sensitivity during the first year of life: an integrative review of the literature. International Journal of Pediatrics. 2018; 6(12):8655-67.
  20. Li JY, Huang Y, Huang YY, Shen Q, Zhou WB, Redding SR, Ouyang YQ. Experience predicts the duration of exclusive breastfeeding: The serial mediating roles of attitude and self‐efficacy. Birth. 2021.

 

Journal of Pediatric Perspectives
Volume 10, Issue 6
June 2022
Pages 16155-16162

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics