Intention of breastfeeding and association with sociodemographic, obstetric characteristics and experience with breastfeeding among pregnant women

Abstract Objectives: to estimate the intention of breastfeeding (IBF) duration and its association with sociodemographic, obstetric characteristics and experience with breastfeeding among pregnant women undergoing prenatal care. Methods: cross-sectional study, with pregnant women undergoing prenatal care in public health services in Colombo, Paraná, Brazil. The duration of IBF was questioned to pregnant women. Negative binomial Poisson regression with robust variance adjustment allowed estimating crude and adjusted prevalence ratios (PR), and 95% confidence intervals (CI95%) of the association between IBF duration and exposure variables. Results: among the participating pregnant women (n = 604), 7.9% reported having IBF for less than six months, 28.0% from six to 11 months, 38.3% from 12 to 23 and 25.9% for 24 months or more. The mean IBF time was 13.5 ± 8.4 and median of 12 months. Pregnant women with moderate food insecurity (PR=1.34; CI95%=1.04-1.73), multiparous women (PR=1.13; CI95%=1.00-1.26), and who reported having been breastfed as babies (PR=1.19; CI95%=1.02-1.40) had a longer IBF time. Conclusions: food security situation, primiparity and exposure to breastfeeding in childhood are determinants of IBF during pregnancy.