Breastfeeding following in vitro fertilisation in Switzerland-Does mode of conception affect breastfeeding behaviour?

Abstract

Aim: Breastfeeding has numerous advantages. Our aim was to investigate whether breastfeeding initiation and duration in women with pregnancies conceived through in vitro fertilisation differ from spontaneously conceived pregnancies.

Methods: This is a comparative cross-sectional study about breastfeeding behaviour performed at the Bern University Hospital including mothers of singletons conceived by in vitro fertilisation (n = 198) with or without gonadotropin stimulation between 2010 and 2016 (in vitro fertilisation group). They were compared to a population-based control group (n = 1421) of a randomly selected sample of mothers in Switzerland who delivered in 2014.

Results: A total of 1619 women were included in this analysis. Breastfeeding initiation rates were high, similar between the in vitro fertilisation group (93.4%) and the control group (94.8%). No increased risk of stopping breastfeeding earlier after in vitro fertilisation treatment compared to the control group could be found over the observational period of 12 months (HR = 1.00, 95% CI 0.83-1.20, P = .984). There was no difference in breastfeeding initiation or duration after gonadotropin-stimulated vs unstimulated in vitro fertilisation.

Conclusion: In Switzerland, in vitro fertilisation treatments were not associated with earlier breastfeeding cessation. This result is reassuring for mothers undergoing in vitro fertilisation.

Keywords: breastfeeding duration; breastfeeding initiation; gonadotropins; in vitro fertilisation; lactation.