title: Breastfeeding patterns in a community of Native Hawaiian mothers participating in WIC.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA. dodgson@hawaii.edu
authors.forename: Joan E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Dodgson
authors.forename: Estelle
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Codier
authors.forename: Pua
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kaiwi
authors.forename: Mary Frances M
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Oneha
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pagano
mesh_terms: 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