Date of Award

Spring 5-2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Human Ecology

First Advisor

Vicky Green

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare factors that may affect breastfeeding duration or cessation in preterm and term infants during the first year of life. A 50- question survey was administered using SurveyMonkey™ and distributed through social media platforms. Participants were able to enter a drawing for an Amazon gift card as incentive. SPSS was used for statistical analysis. Participants included mothers over the age of 18, with a child between the ages of 12 and 24 months, born in the U.S., and who provided human milk to their child at any point during the first year of life.

Of the 687 responses, 531 were completed for analysis. Fifty mothers had a child born preterm and 481 had a child born to term. Hypotheses were tested using a Chi Square test. There was no statistically significant difference in exclusive breastfeeding rates between preterm and term infants at 0 to 3 months, 4 months, and 5 months. However, there was a statistically significant difference at six months (40.0% vs 22.7%) (x² (1, N = 531) = 7.4, p = .009). There were no statistically significant differences in overall breastfeeding rates between preterm and term infants at any time marks. There was a statistically significant difference for maternal medications (x² (1, N = 531) = 6.1, p = .044) and multiple births (x² (1, N = 531) = 11.5, p = .025) influencing cessation of breastfeeding for preterm and term infants. Mothers with GDM (x² (1, N = 531) = 9.07, p = .008), T1DM or T2DM (x² (1, N = 531) = 8.23, p = .020), GHTN or Preeclampsia (x² (1, N = 531) = 7.79, p = .046) were more likely to experience a preterm birth. Several factors were significantly different between preterm and term infants including gender (x² (1, N = 531) = 4.58, p = .037), delivery type (x² (1, N = 531) = 9.45, p = .0003) and the father (x² (1, N = 531) = 15.95, p = .001) and other family members (x² (1, N = 531) = 8.23, p = .016) living in the household.

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