title: The duration of breast-feeding. A longitudinal prospective study in Denmark.
abstract: A longitudinal prospective study was performed to investigate the total duration of breast-feeding. Three hundred and sixty-six mothers were followed-up until 3 years after delivery. At 1 month 93% were breast-feeding, at 3 months 73%, at 6 months 52%, at 1 year 20% and 1% breast-fed more than 3 years. Correlations were found between duration of breast-feeding and maternal age, education and social class. Mothers who had breast-fed an older child usually breast-fed the next child for a period of similar length. Solid food was most frequently introduced when the infants were 4 months old. At 6 months 4% were still exclusively breast-fed. Breast-feeding has become popular: only 1% did not want to breast-feed at all and 89% of mothers intended to breast-feed their children for 6 months or more. Even though the mothers now breast-feed longer than earlier, only 39% succeeded in breast-feeding for as long as or longer than they had intended.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Central Hospital, Hillerød, Denmark.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vestermark
authors.forename: C K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Høgdall
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Plenov
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Birch
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Toftager-Larsen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001942:Breast Feeding; D003718:Denmark; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007225:Infant Food; D015993:Life Tables; D008423:Maternal Age; D010298:Parity; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012923:Social Class; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors