Breastfeeding patterns in a community of Native Hawaiian mothers participating in WIC.
Although Hawaii has high breastfeeding initiation rates (89%), Native Hawaiian WIC participants have much lower initiation (64%) rates. Little is known about why these disparities occur. The study's aim was to describe the breastfeeding patterns of Hawaiian/part-Hawaiian women enrolled in the WIC who had initiated breastfeeding. Retrospective descriptive data (N=200) were gathered from WIC records. Descriptive and parametric statistics with univariate and multivariate analysis of breastfeeding patterns were completed. Mothers exclusively breastfeeding at initiation weaned significantly later and were significantly more likely to breastfeed for 6 months than were mothers who partially breastfed. Practice and policy implications of these findings are discussed.
Dodgson
Joan E
JE
School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA. dodgson@hawaii.edu
Codier
Estelle
E
Kaiwi
Pua
P
Oneha
Mary Frances M
MF
Pagano
Ian
I
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000385:Aid to Families with Dependent Children / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006254:Hawaii; D040361:Healthy People Programs; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008430:Maternal-Child Health Centers / Q000191:economics; D044468:Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander / Q000523:psychology*; D015399:Nursing Research; D010298:Parity; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011247:Pregnancy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States