The prevalence of breastfeeding up to 18 months of life in relation to the use of prelactation feeding with a formula in the perinatal center

Currently, the importance of increasing the prevalence of breastfeeding (BF) is well known as the health-saving the national strategy based on medicine-evidence data.

Objective: To analyze the prevalence of BF in relation to the feeding method in a maternity hospital after its discharge.

Materials and methods: The investigation involved 37 mother-baby dyads, in which the babies received supplementary feeding with expressed colostrum and/or a formula. A control group included 24 mother-baby dyads, in which the babies were exclusively on BF. The prevalence of the latter in the first year was revealed during a telephone interview at 1, 3, 6, 12, and 18 months. All the women were consulted by specialists from the Breastfeeding Support Department, Institute of Neonatology and Pediatrics, V.I. Kulakov National Medical Research Center of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Perinatology, Ministry of Health of Russia. According to the supplement feeding method, the study group was divided into 2 subgroups. Subgroup 1 consisted of 18 babies who took supplementary feeding with colostrum/milk and partially with a formula in an alternative way (digital syringe feeding). In this subgroup, the investigators used a novel convenient accessory, such as a syringe nozzle invented by Doctor M.G. Shneiderman. Subgroup 2 included 18 babies who received supplementary bottle feeding with a formula. In Subgroup 2, the mothers consciously made the choice of bottle feeding as more convenient for them, which served as a criterion for dividing into subgroups.

Results: The number of mother and baby dyads on BF in all age periods predictably prevailed in the control group versus the subgroups that received supplementary feeding. However, the statistically significant differences were only compared to those in Subgroup 2 at 3 and 6 months, respectively. Moreover, the risk of BF loss at the age of 6 months 6 times higher if prelactation supplementary feeding with a bottle formula was used as compared with the group on exclusively BF in the maternity hospital (RR=5.6; 95% CI, 1,34–22.5; p<0.05).

Conclusion: Exclusively BF in the maternity hospital contributes to an increase in the duration of BF in the further. Exclusively BF in the maternity hospital depends on the women’s BF motivation (the lactation dominant formed before childbirth) and professional BF support allowing one to overcome the difficulties that arise at the beginning of BF, by avoiding prelactation supplementary feeding with a formula without medical indications.