A Study on Infant Feeding and Weaning Practices in Multicultural Families

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the infant feeding and weaning practices in multicultural families. We surveyed 159 married female immigrants in Jeonbuk province from April 2010 to April 2011. They are from Vietnam (49.7%), China (25.8%), Cambodia (8.8%), Japan (8.2%), and the Philippines (7.5%). The average rate of colostrum feeding of all the subjects was 91% and there were significant differences between nationalities (p <.05), family types (p <.01), and delivery methods (p <.001). 41.5% of those answered did breast feeding, while 49.1% combined breast and bottle feeding, and 9.4% did bottle feeding only. The reason for bottle feeding is either because they are unable to produce enough breast milk or because they think the formula is better than breast milk. Average period of breast feeding was 10.3 months. There were significant differences of breast feeding duration between maternal age (p<.05) and economic level (p<.001). The mean onset time of weaning was 7.8 months, and there were significant differences between nationalities (p<.05), family types (p<.05), and feeding methods (p<.05). There was no significant difference in methods of supplementary food preparation between nationalities, family types, jobs, and education levels. The mean onset time of commercial milk was 12.8 months, and there were significant differences between nationalities (p<.05), the duration of marriages (p<.05), education levels (p<.05) and feeding methods (p<.001).