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Abstract #154298

Ruowei Li, MD, PhD¹, Sara B. Fein, PhD², Jian Chen, MSc¹, and Laurence Grummer-Strawn, PhD³. (1) Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3005 Chamblee Tucker Rd, Atlanta, GA 30341, (2) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food and Drug Administration, 5100 Paint Branch Parkway, College Park, MD 20740, (3) National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Koger Bldg., Atlanta, GA 30341, 770-488-5702, lxg8@cdc.gov

To examine determinants of breastfeeding cessation by different weaning ages, we compared reasons mothers give for stopping breastfeeding at <1, 1-2, 3-5, 6-8, >9 months. Based on a total of 32 reasons surveyed on a Likert scale in the Infant Feeding Practices Study II, we estimated percentage of mothers considering each reason as important for stopping breastfeeding and categorized them by constructs from a factor analysis. To control for confounding effects of socio-demographic characteristics on the ranking of reasons, we estimated adjusted mean scores of each construct by including both weaning age and socio-demographic variables in the GLM models to predict the Least Square means. We found that concern about milk supply and perception of baby's lack of satisfaction by breast milk alone are the most frequently cited important reasons for all the ages examined so far (49-56% up to 6 months). As weaning age increases, most reasons related to physical adjustment, nutritional status and psychosocial distress became less frequently cited; whereas most reasons of lifestyle pattern became more frequently cited. For example, mother's desire that somebody else feed her baby and mother's concern about pumping/breastfeeding at work increased 39% and 158%, respectively, from <1 to 3-5 months. The comparison of adjusted mean scores indicates that decreases by weaning age are statistically significant for reasons related to physical adjustment, nutritional status, and psychosocial distress (p<0.05). The identification of temporal changes in the reasons for breastfeeding cessation is important for targeting breastfeeding interventions at those issues prominent for each age.

Learning Objectives:

• List the top reasons for mother's decision to stop breastfeeding at different weaning ages.
• Analyze the difference in the ranking of reasons by weaning ages after controlling for confunding effect of socio-demographic characteristics.
• Develop targeted breastfeeding interventions at issues prominent for each age.

Keywords: Breastfeeding, Interventions

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered