title: Low prepregnant body mass index and breastfeeding practices.
abstract: The relationship of low prepregnant body mass index with breastfeeding was investigated in 1272 women who delivered a term infant with birthweight > or = 2500 g at the San Paolo Hospital in Milan, Northern Italy. Underweight was defined using the Institute of Medicine's cutoff of 19.8 kg/m(2). Women were interviewed via telephone through 12 months postdelivery about breastfeeding practices. Education level (high versus low, odds ratio [OR], 1.41), primiparity (OR, 1.35), vaginal delivery (OR, 0.74), and birthweight of the infant (normal versus high, OR, 1.89) were associated with low, as opposed to normal, pre-pregnant body mass index. After adjustment for these confounders, no difference was found between underweight and normal weight women for initiation or duration of breastfeeding (mean adjusted difference, 0.4; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], -0.1 to 0.9 months) or exclusive breastfeeding (0.1 [95% CI, -0.1 to 0.3] months). Underweight mothers of healthy term infants may not be at increased risk for not initiating or shorter breastfeeding.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, San Paolo Hospital, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Marcello
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Giovannini
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Radaelli
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Banderali
authors.forename: Enrica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Riva
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001724:Birth Weight / Q000502:physiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D010298:Parity; D011247:Pregnancy; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D015430:Weight Gain