Professor Helen Ball h.l.ball@durham.ac.uk
Professor
Professor Helen Ball h.l.ball@durham.ac.uk
Professor
D. Howell
A. Bryant
E. Best
C. Russell
M. Ward-Platt
Aim: To explore the link between breastfeeding duration and bed-sharing frequency among women reporting a prenatal intention to breastfeed. Methods: About 870 participants in a randomised breastfeeding trial, recruited at mid-pregnancy, provided weekly snapshots of breastfeeding and bed-sharing behaviour for 26 weeks following birth. Strength of prenatal breastfeeding intent was recorded at recruitment using Likert-type scales. Results: Outcomes were frequency of bed-sharing at home for at least one hour per week, and time to cessation of breastfeeding. There were insufficient data to classify bed-sharing pattern in 192/870 (22%) of mothers. Of the remainder, 44% (299/678) of participants ‘rarely’ or ‘never’ bed-shared, 28% (192/678) did so ‘intermittently’ and 28% (187/678) did so ‘often’. These three groups did not differ significantly in marital status, income, infant gestational age, maternal age or delivery mode. Significantly, more participants who bed-shared ‘often’ reported strong prenatal breastfeeding intent (70% vs. 57% and 56% for ‘intermittent’ and ‘rare’ bed-share groups) and attached high prenatal importance to breastfeeding (95% vs. 87% and 82%). Significantly, more women who bed-shared frequently were breastfeeding at 6 months (p < 0.0001) than those who intermittently or rarely/never bed-shared. Conclusion: Women with strong motivation to breastfeed frequently bed-share. Given the complex relationship between bed-sharing and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) appropriate guidance balancing risk minimisation with support for breastfeeding mothers is crucial.
Ball, H., Howell, D., Bryant, A., Best, E., Russell, C., & Ward-Platt, M. (2016). Bed-sharing by breastfeeding mothers: who bed-shares, and what is the relationship with breastfeeding duration?. Acta Paediatrica: Nurturing the Child, 105(6), 628-634. https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.13354
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Jan 29, 2016 |
Online Publication Date | Mar 11, 2016 |
Publication Date | Jun 1, 2016 |
Deposit Date | Feb 3, 2016 |
Publicly Available Date | Mar 11, 2017 |
Journal | Acta Paediatrica |
Print ISSN | 0803-5253 |
Electronic ISSN | 1651-2227 |
Publisher | Wiley |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 105 |
Issue | 6 |
Pages | 628-634 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.13354 |
Public URL | https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1421241 |
Accepted Journal Article
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Copyright Statement
This is the accepted version of the following article: Ball, H. L., Howel, D., Bryant, A., Best, E., Russell, C. and Ward-Platt, M. (2016), Bed-sharing by breastfeeding mothers: who bed-shares and what is the relationship with breastfeeding duration?. Acta Paediatrica, 105(6): 628-634 which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/apa.13354. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.
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