Breast-feeding attitudes and practices among adolescents.
Breast-feeding attitudes of 128 low-income, pregnant adolescents were assessed using a questionnaire developed for this population. Teens who had been breast-fed as infants had more positive attitudes than bottle-fed teens (p less than 0.002); no differences in attitudes were found by race or age. Pregnant teens who planned to breast-feed their infants had higher attitude scores than those who planned to bottle feed or who were uncertain (p less than 0.001). Of the sample, 32.4% subsequently breast-fed their baby; these teen mothers had more positive attitude scores than the teen mothers who bottle fed (p less than 0.001). The prenatal infant feeding plans of these pregnant teens were significantly related to their postnatal feeding practices (p less than 0.001). Selected implications of these data for health care professionals are discussed.
Baisch
M J
MJ
Teen Pregnancy Service of Milwaukee, Milwaukee County Medical Complex, Wisconsin.
Fox
R A
RA
Goldberg
B D
BD
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D001942:Breast Feeding; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008425:Maternal Behavior; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence