Comparing Alternative Breast Milk Feeding Questions to U.S. Breastfeeding Surveillance Questions

Background: Most mothers in the United States express their milk, which is then bottle fed to their infants. The National Immunization Survey (NIS), used to report national breastfeeding prevalence, asks about infant breast milk consumption, regardless of whether it is consumed at the mother\u27s breast or from a bottle. The NIS data are often erroneously interpreted, however, to mean prevalence of at-the-breast feeding. We hypothesized that over half of infants classified as breastfed at 3, 6, and 12 months by the NIS questions would also be consuming expressed breast milk. Materials and Methods: A convenience sample of 456 mothers of infants 19?35 months of age recruited through ResearchMatch.org completed an online infant-feeding questionnaire. The questionnaire included both the NIS questions and more-detailed questions about feeding mode, distinguishing between at-the-breast and bottle. Results: Based on responses of our sample to the NIS questions, it could be interpreted that 74%, 64%, and 39% of mother?infant dyads were at-the-breast feeding at 3, 6, and 12 months, respectively. However, at each time point, most infants consumed at least some breast milk from a bottle. As infants got older, the proportion of breast milk consumed from a bottle increased. Conclusions: In this U.S. sample, the predominant breast milk feeding style involves both at-the-breast and expressed breast milk feeding. Future research and national surveillance should consider including separate measures of maternal breast milk expression and infant consumption of expressed breast milk to enable meaningful exploration of maternal and infant outcomes associated with these asynchronous behaviors

Fatty Acid Composition in the Mature Milk of Bolivian Forager-Horticulturalists: Controlled Comparisons With a US Sample

Breast milk fatty acid (FA) composition varies greatly among individual women, including in percentages of the long-chain polyunsaturated FAs (LCPUFA) 20:4n-6 (arachidonic acid, AA) and 22:6n-3 (docosahexaenoic acid, DHA), which are important for infant neurological development. It has been suggested that owing to wide variation in milk LCPUFA and low DHA in Western diets, standards of milk FA composition should be derived from populations consuming traditional diets. We collected breast milk samples from Tsimane women at varying lactational stages (6–82 weeks). The Tsimane are an indigenous, natural fertility, subsistence-level population living in Amazonia Bolivia. Tsimane samples were matched by lactational stage to samples from a US milk bank, and analysed concurrently for FA composition by gas-liquid chromatography. We compared milk FA composition between Tsimane (n = 35) and US (n = 35) mothers, focusing on differences in LCPUFA percentages that may be due to population-typical dietary patterns. Per total FAs, the percentages of AA, DHA, total n-3 and total n-6 LCPUFA were significantly higher among Tsimane mothers. Mean percentages of 18:2n-6 (linoleic acid) and trans FAs were significantly higher among US mothers. Tsimane mothers’ higher milk n-3 and n-6 LCPUFA percentages may be due to their regular consumption of wild game and freshwater fish, as well as comparatively lower intakes of processed foods and oils that may interfere with LCPUFA synthesis

Fatty acid composition in the mature milk of Bolivian foragerhorticulturalists: Controlled comparisons with a U.S. sample.

Abstract Breast milk fatty acid (FA) composition varies greatly among individual women, including in percentages of the long-chain polyunsaturated FAs (LCPUFA) 20:4n-6 (arachidonic acid, AA) and 22:6n-3 (docosahexaenoic acid, DHA), which are important for infant neurological development. It has been suggested that owing to wide variation in milk LCPUFA and low DHA in Western diets, standards of milk FA composition should be derived from populations consuming traditional diets. We collected breast milk samples from Tsimane women at varying lactational stages (6-82 weeks). The Tsimane are an indigenous, natural fertility, subsistence-level population living in Amazonia Bolivia. Tsimane samples were matched by lactational stage to samples from a US milk bank, and analysed concurrently for FA composition by gas-liquid chromatography. We compared milk FA composition between Tsimane (n = 35) and US (n = 35) mothers, focusing on differences in LCPUFA percentages that may be due to population-typical dietary patterns. Per total FAs, the percentages of AA, DHA, total n-3 and total n-6 LCPUFA were significantly higher among Tsimane mothers. Mean percentages of 18:2n-6 (linoleic acid) and trans FAs were significantly higher among US mothers. Tsimane mothers' higher milk n-3 and n-6 LCPUFA percentages may be due to their regular consumption of wild game and freshwater fish, as well as comparatively lower intakes of processed foods and oils that may interfere with LCPUFA synthesis

Sociocultural Influences on the Determinants of Breastfeeding by Latin Mothers in the Cincinnati Area

While breast-feeding initiation and duration among US Latina women appear to decrease with acculturation, health care providers in the Greater Cincinnati area have noted lower rates of breast-feeding among even first-generation Latina immigrants. This study\u27s purpose was to identify determinants of breast-feeding for Latina mothers in Cincinnati through qualitative interviews and Spanish Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale ratings. Our findings suggest that, along with similar levels of breast-feeding self-confidence, foreign-born Latina women in the Greater Cincinnati area share similar breast-feeding determinants with the general population. However, characteristics of these determinants and their impact vary because of unique pressures experienced by this community