ArticlePloS one2019
Twenty-five-year trends in breastfeeding initiation: The effects of sociodemographic changes in Great Britain, 1985-2010.
Article in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A systematic review of the relationship between portion size and indexes of adiposity in children.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2025Pooled it
- Breastfeeding and risk of maternal type 2 diabetes: a prospective cohort study of 280 000 women in China.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Diet, Weight Status, and Pregnancy Outcomes Among Native and Migrant Women in Jersey, Channel Islands.Nutrients · 2025Observational
- Impact of midwife continuity of carer on stillbirth rate and first feed in England.Communications medicine · 2025Article
- No Evidence of Interaction Between FADS2 Genotype and Breastfeeding on Cognitive or Other Traits in the UK Biobank.Behavior genetics · 2025Article
- The effect of Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative compliance on the association between mode of birth and breastfeeding initiation in Sri Lanka.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Association of socio-demographic factors, perinatal characteristics, and hospital maternity practices with breastfeeding outcomes in the UAE.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2025Article
- Breastfeeding support during the Covid-19 pandemic in England: analysis of a national survey.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Breastfeeding trajectories for preterm infants over the first 6 months of life in England 2010-2020: surveys using large representative birth samples.BMJ paediatrics open · 2024Article
- Psychosocial predictors of post-natal anxiety and depression: Using Structural Equation Modelling to investigate the relationship between pressure to breastfeed, health care professional support, post-natal guilt and shame, and post-natal anxiety and depression within an infant feeding context.Maternal & child nutrition · 2024Article
- Levelling up health in the early years: A cost-analysis of infant feeding and healthcare.PloS one · 2024Article
- Association between breastfeeding duration and educational achievement in England: results from the Millennium Cohort Study.Archives of disease in childhood · 2023Article
- Disparities in Infant Nutrition: WIC Participation and Rates of Breastfeeding in Florida.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Infant feeding method and special educational need in 191,745 Scottish schoolchildren: A national, population cohort study.PLoS medicine · 2023Article
- Breastfeeding rates in England during the Covid-19 pandemic and the previous decade: Analysis of national surveys and routine data.PloS one · 2023Article
- Socio-economic inequalities in the effect of public policies and the COVID-19 pandemic on exclusive breastfeeding in Chile.Public health · 2023Article
- Trends and disparities in breastfeeding initiation in France between 2010 and 2016: Results from the French National Perinatal Surveys.Maternal & child nutrition · 2022Article
- Maternal factors associated with smoking during gestation and consequences in newborns: Results of an 18-year study.Journal of clinical and translational research · 2022Article
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Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundData from the UK Infant Feeding Surveys indicate that breastfeeding initiation increased between 1985 and 2010. During this period, societal changes in GB also influenced the sociodemographic characteristics of women in the childbearing population. As breastfeeding behaviour is highly socially patterned in GB, the increasing trend in breastfeeding initiation may have hidden inequalities in breastfeeding practices. This study examines the sociodemographic inequalities in breastfeeding initiation in GB between 1985 and 2010, exploring whether and how this may have been influenced by social and policy changes.
methodsData drawn from the nationally representative 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2010 Infant Feeding Surveys were used to estimate changes in the proportion of mothers in selected sociodemographic groups over time. Logistic regression models estimated the independent associations between breastfeeding initiation in each survey year and maternal sociodemographic characteristics. Associations were adjusted for maternal sociodemographic, pregnancy-related and support factors. Evidence of a change in the association between breastfeeding initiation and each sociodemographic characteristic over time was assessed using a test for statistical heterogeneity.
resultsThe sociodemographic characteristics of mothers in GB changed substantially between 1985 and 2010. Mothers were increasingly more likely to be 30 or over; have higher education and socioeconomic status; and be single or cohabiting. An increasing proportion of mothers in GB identified as being of black or minority ethnic origin. Reported smoking in pregnancy declined. These same characteristics independently predicted higher odds of breastfeeding initiation; the associations between these characteristics and breastfeeding initiation did not vary significantly over time.
conclusionsMarked inequalities in breastfeeding initiation persisted over the study period, hidden among the increasing initiation rate at the population level. The increasing overall rate of initiation was most likely driven by the rising prevalence of those groups of mothers who were, and remain, characteristically most likely to breastfeed.
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