Breastfeeding outcomes for mothers with and without home access to e-technologies.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate the percentage of breastfeeding mothers with home access to e-technologies and to compare breastfeeding outcomes for mothers with and without access to e-technologies.


METHODS
We conducted a prospective observational study of 550 breastfeeding mothers discharged from nine maternity units in France.


RESULTS
Overall, 435 mothers (79%; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 75-82) had home access to e-technologies. Mothers with access to e-technologies were less likely to be unemployed (6% vs. 15%, p = 0.004), to smoke during pregnancy (8% vs. 16%, p = 0.03), to have a breastfeeding assessment score <8 (39% vs. 59%, p < 0.001) and to use a pacifier (23% vs. 41%, p < 0.001). Although mothers with access to e-technologies had a longer median breastfeeding duration than those without home access to e-technologies (19 vs. 16 weeks, p = 0.02), adjusted hazard ratios for breastfeeding discontinuation (0.85; 95% CI, 0.60-1.21), overall satisfaction rates (73% vs. 67%, p = 0.19) and breastfeeding difficulties after discharge (58% vs. 61%, p = 0.60) were not different for the two groups.


CONCLUSIONS
A vast majority of breastfeeding mothers have home access to e-technologies in France. However, access to e-technologies was not independently associated with better breastfeeding outcomes in this study.
Laborde
Laurent
L
Quality of Care Unit, Grenoble University Hospital, France.
Gelbert-Baudino
Nathalie
N
Fulcheri
Julie
J
Schelstraete
Camille
C
Francois
Patrice
P
Labarere
Jose
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001942:Breast Feeding; D016251:CD-ROM; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006266:Health Education; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D020407:Internet; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013997:Time Factors