Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2021

Advisor

Jeannette Manger

Abstract

Breastfeeding is a natural component of life and has proven to provide benefits to both the mother and the child. The mother’s mental health as well as physical health including losing pregnancy weight are influenced by breastfeeding. The child receives immune system strengthening leaving them less susceptible to certain diseases in the short term and later in life. There are a variety of factors that have the potential to influence breastfeeding rates. In this study, seven of these factors were examined including sex of the baby, race of the baby, maternal education, poverty income ratio, marital status of the mother, birth order of the baby, and Women, Infants, & Children (WIC) assistance status. Each of these factors was considered for rates of breastfeeding for any length of time, breastfeeding nonexclusively until 6 months, and exclusively breastfeeding until 6 months. The goal of this study is to determine how each of the 7 factors mentioned above influence the breastfeeding rates in the three categories, ever breastfed, breastfed at 6 months, exclusively breastfed at 6 months. The data were obtained from a publicly available data set from the CDC breastfeeding website. The data was collected via phone surveys and was compiled according to year of birth of the child. Analysis of the data included ANOVA tests. Results indicate there are significant differences in breastfeeding rates in all three categories (breastfeeding for any length of time, breastfeeding nonexclusively until 6 months, and breastfeeding exclusively until 6 months) in relation to race, maternal education, poverty income ratio, maternal marital status, and WIC assistance status. Sex of the baby and birth order of the baby show no significant differences in breastfeeding rates in any of the three categories.

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