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Overweight mothers more likely to stop breastfeeding

Mothers who are overweight are more likely to stop breastfeeding early compared to mothers of a healthy weight, according to a new analysis of data from 17,113 mothers participating in the UK Millennium Cohort Study of live babies born in the United Kingdom between 2000 and 2002.

The analysis found that, after adjusting for confounding variables, overweight mothers had lower odds (OR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.78-1.00) of initiating breastfeeding compared with healthy weight mothers.

Compared to mothers with a healthy body weight, the odds of ceasing breastfeeding within the first week were higher in overweight (OR, 1.62; 95% CI, 1.41-1.88) and obese (OR, 1.62; 95% CI, 1.33-1.97) mothers. Furthermore, the odds of continuing breastfeeding for more than 4 months were lower among mothers who were overweight (OR, 0.74; 95% CI, 0.66-0.83) and obese (OR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.48-0.69) mothers.

The study also found that interaction between ethnicity and BMI was not significant for initiation (P=.34) or longevity (P=.13). However, a significant interaction was observed for early cessation (P=.004) suggesting that the effect of pre-pregnancy BMI on early cessation differs across ethnic groups.

The authors concluded that pre-pregnancy BMI could be used to target breastfeeding support to women who are substantially less likely to establish breastfeeding or to continue in the longer term. However, they said, the nature of this support should be carefully considered and tailored, as the intended and potentially unintended consequences of intervention require additional investigation.


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