Cynthia K. Childs, MFA, Community & Preventive Medicine, University or Rochester, 601 Elmwood Avenue, Box 324, Rochester, NY 14642, 585-275-7175, cynthia_childs@urmc.rochester.edu, Cynthia R. Howard, MD, MPH, School of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Rochester, Rochester General Hospital, 2145 Portland Ave, Rochester, NY 14621, and Shirley Eberly, Biostatistics and Computational Biology, University or Rochester, 601 Elmwood Avenue, Box 630, Rochester, NY 14642.

Prenatal intent to breastfeed is highly correlated with breastfeeding duration. Yet half of women who initiate breastfeeding do not reach their goal. Determining what factors affect who achieves her breastfeeding goal can help public health workers develop interventions that target women at risk of not meeting their goal.

A secondary analysis of data collected on 700 healthy, mother-infant breastfeeding dyads was conducted to determine the factors that affected a woman attaining her breastfeeding goal. Variables assessed included sociodemographics, breastfeeding plans, duration, social support, breastfeeding experiences, formula use, and return to work/school plans.

Only 48% of the sample made their breastfeeding goal. In bivariate analyses the following variables were associated with an increased likelihood of a woman making her goal: being married, college educated, older, multiparous, having a friend who breastfed, weaning for other than mother-oriented reasons, planning to breastfeed exclusively, no in-hospital formula supplementation, later infant age at first formula feeding, and not planning to return to work or school. Three variables were retained in the multivariate model (p<.05): mother’s education level (OR=0.492), weaning – mother-oriented reason (OR=0.565), and age in days of first formula feeding (OR=1.008).

The proportion of women who made their goal varied with sociodemographic, personal, social, and institutional variables. Plans to return to work/school and baby’s age at first formula feeding negatively impacted breastfeeding success. Mothers would benefit from work-place breastfeeding support. Further exploration of social and cultural issues that affect breastfeeding is warranted.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize that roughly half of women do not meet their personal breastfeeding goal.
• List the factors that affect a woman's ability to make her breastfeeding goal.

Keywords: Breastfeeding,

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.