Hospital infant formula discharge packages. Do they affect the duration of breast-feeding?
C. I. Dungy, M. E. Losch, D. Russell, P. Romitti and L. B. Dusdieker
Department of Pediatrics, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA.
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the duration of breast-feeding is affected
by the contents of the hospital discharge package. DESIGN: A randomized
clinical trial with 2 experimental interventions (a discharge package
containing a manual breast pump only and a discharge package containing a
commercially prepared infant formula and a manual breast pump) and a
control group who received a commercially prepared infant formula discharge
package only. Sociodemographic characteristics and information concerning
prior births (including feeding methods) were obtained from each mother
within 48 hours of her infant's birth. Sources of influence on the mother's
feeding decision, maternal attitudes concerning breast-feeding, and
maternal feeding preferences were also assessed. PARTICIPANTS: The sample
consisted of 763 women who had given birth who were admitted to the
maternal-fetal unit of a midwestern community hospital. MAIN OUTCOME
MEASURES: Information concerning current method of infant feeding was
obtained from telephone interviews conducted at 2-week intervals until the
infant was 16 weeks old. The data were analyzed using descriptive
statistics, multivariate analysis of variance, logistic regression
analysis, and survival analysis. RESULTS: The content of the hospital
discharge package did not affect whether the mother engaged in exclusive or
partial breast-feeding during the 16-week follow-up interval. However,
there was some evidence that providing formula samples at discharge from
the hospital increased the duration of exclusive breast-feeding compared
with providing a manual breast pump. CONCLUSION: This study does not
support the assumption that inclusion of infant formula in hospital
discharge packages decreases the duration of breast-feeding.
