AIM This paper reports on a study examining the relationship between women's psychological characteristics and breastfeeding duration, after controlling for socio-demographic factors. BACKGROUND The literature suggests that psychological factors may influence breastfeeding behaviour, but studies are few. Existing evidence and the results of phase 1 of our study were used to construct a list o...

The World Health Organization recommends early initiation of breastfeeding (within 1 hour of giving birth). This study assessed the prevalence of timely initiation of breastfeeding by mothers of neonates in Al-Hassa province, Saudi Arabia. Mothers attending for birth registration at primary health care centres were interviewed and various sociodemographic, obstetric and health service related v...

The health benefits of breastfeeding are well known. However, less is known about the frequency and duration of breastfeeding in twins. A population-based study of maternal factors associated with the early cessation of breastfeeding in preterm and term twins is reviewed. This is followed by research reviews and news concerning aging in twins, conjoined twin separation and school legislation fo...

Public health recommendations promote prolonged breastfeeding of all children; however, parental investment (PI) theory predicts that breastfeeding will be allocated among a mothers' offspring to maximize her reproductive success. We evaluated PI in terms of risk for weaning before age two among 283 children in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Results demonstrate: (i) a Trivers-Willard effect--high socio...

Although a large majority of US mothers now begin breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding rates fall far below national health objectives, with vulnerable populations being least likely to breastfeed exclusively. This article explores common personal and societal barriers to exclusive breastfeeding and offers evidence-based strategies to support mothers to breastfeed exclusively, such as ensurin...

Introduction: Breastfeeding produces an important effect on the physiology of the body, metabolism and human clinical status. Available evidence suggested that breastfeeding has a prophylactic effect on adiposity, blood pressure and other chronic diseases. Thus, this study was conducted to determine the association between infant breastfeeding and blood pressure status in early adulthood. Ma...

BACKGROUND Early initiation of breastfeeding is a simple and cost effective intervention to advance the health of mothers and newborns. The World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) recommend that breastfeeding should be initiated within one hour of birth. The aim of this study is to identify factors associated with timely initiation of breastfeeding among moth...

BACKGROUND Although gaps between breastfeeding awareness and practices have been described, determinants of the gaps have not been well investigated. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to examine determinants of the gap between breastfeeding awareness and practices in Vietnam. METHODS We interviewed 10,834 mothers with children aged 0-23 mo in 11 of 63 Vietnam provinces about breastfeeding...

AIM To provide comprehensive evidence of the effect of interventions on early initiation, exclusive, continued and any breastfeeding rates when delivered in five settings: (i) Health systems and services (ii) Home and family environment (iii) Community environment (iv) Work environment (v) Policy environment or a combination of any of above. METHODS Of 23977 titles identified through a system...