Health literacy and its relation to continuing with breastfeeding at six months post-partum in a sample of Spanish women.
María Jesús Valero-Chillerón, Victor M González-Chordà, Águeda Cervera-Gasch and 3 others
PMID 33939303WHAT IT FOUND
Health literacy did not predict stopping exclusive breastfeeding by six months.
The ice-cream label score was linked to continuing any breastfeeding, but the word-reading score was not.
Key findings
01Health literacy did not predict early stopping of exclusive breastfeeding: neither literacy test showed a significant relation.
02The ice-cream label health literacy score was linked to continuing any breastfeeding, but the word-reading health literacy score was not.
03The main reason for early exclusive breastfeeding cessation was baby weight gain lower than recommended, and the main reason for stopping breastfeeding altogether was perceived low milk supply.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was done in one Spanish hospital and enrolled only mothers who were still breastfeeding exclusively 36 hr after birth, so it says little about mothers who stopped earlier, twin pregnancies, pre-term newborns, or infants in neonatal intensive care. Health literacy was measured with general tests, not a breastfeeding-specific literacy tool, and the two tests disagreed about the relation with breastfeeding continuation. The significant result for total breastfeeding was at p = .05, and the exclusive breastfeeding analysis was not significant. Important possible influences such as smoking, socio-economic level, previous breastfeeding experience, prenatal attitudes, support from professionals, work conditions, and postpartum mood symptoms were not included. The study was observational, so it cannot show that health literacy caused better or worse breastfeeding continuation.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that improving health literacy will help a mother continue exclusive breastfeeding. This was an observational study, the exclusive breastfeeding analysis was not significant, and the significant result for any breastfeeding appeared only with one literacy test at p = .05.