Introduction: The extensive health benefits of breastfeeding preterm infants for both mother and infant have been widely reported. However, establishing and maintaining breastfeeding for very preterm (VP) infants remain challenging. The aim of this study was to examine changes in breastfeeding of VP infants over time.
Subjects and methods: Breastfeeding questionnaires were administered to two cohorts of parents of VP infants (<32 weeks) cared for at the tertiary perinatal or surgical neonatal unit in Western Australia. Of these, 488 infants were included in cohort 1 (C1) (births from January 1, 1990 to June 30, 1992) and 253 in cohort 2 (C2) (from January 1, 2011 to September 14, 2012).
Results: More mothers (96.8%) initiated breastfeeding in C2 compared with those in C1 (65.6%) (p<0.001). Additionally, 41.4% of mothers in C2 breastfed for more than 6 months, relative to 25.8% in C1 (p<0.001). The benefits of breastfeeding were endorsed by more women in C2 (45.8%) compared with C1 (11.4%) (p<0.01). Reasons for stopping feeding remained largely consistent.
Conclusions: Significant improvements were evident in the initiation and duration of breastfeeding of the VP infant over time. This improvement was associated with attitudinal shifts in mothers about the benefits of breastfeeding.