Factors associated with the duration of breastfeeding in mothers of babies cared for in a kangaroo family program.
Isabel-Cristina Giraldo-Marín, Natalia Andrea Henao Murillo, María Camila Londoño Rodríguez and 2 others
PMID 36867781WHAT IT FOUND
Continued breastfeeding at six months corrected age was associated with mothers living with their partner and babies already breastfeeding when admitted to a kangaroo care program.
Nurses can ask about these factors during kangaroo care support.
Key findings
01At the six-month corrected-age control, about half of the children were still being breastfed.
02After adjustment, living with a partner and breastfeeding at admission were the only factors still associated with breastfeeding at six months corrected age.
03The study could not determine exclusive breastfeeding up to six months corrected age because that variable was not in the program database.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study used routine program records, not a database designed for research, so it could not determine exclusive breastfeeding up to six months corrected age. Many children had already started complementary feeding by the six-month visit, so the outcome was any breastfeeding, not exclusive breastfeeding. The records did not include loss to monitoring or many economic, social, educational, and work variables that could affect breastfeeding. Most associated factors were background or birth characteristics that are not easily changed by clinicians. The results apply only to families who attended the six-month corrected-age control, not to all program participants.
Declared interests
The work was financed by the Directorate of Research, Development and Innovation of the Catholic University of the East.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the study as proof that kangaroo care caused longer breastfeeding. It was an observational study using routine records, so it only showed factors associated with breastfeeding at six months corrected age.