Demographic and Psychosocial Correlates of Exclusive Breastfeeding Duration in Indonesia

Abstract

Abstract Objectives In Indonesia, exclusive breastfeeding practices are followed by only 46% of mothers, resulting in USD $118 million in health costs annually [2, 3]. Though previous studies have addressed demographic factors related to breastfeeding [5, 6], few studies have examined the relationship between exclusive breastfeeding duration and mother's psychosocial characteristics [5, 6, 7, 8]. Our study used the Indonesian Family Life Survey 5th Wave survey (IFLS5) from 2014–2015 to evaluate if demographic and psychosocial factors are associated with exclusive breastfeeding duration among Indonesian mothers [7, 8]. Methods Our study included mothers (n = 3024) with children <8 years of age. We stratified breastfeeding duration (0, 1–3, 4–6 and >6 months) according to WHO standards [1]. We described individual mother's characteristics including age, education level, socioeconomic status, and psychosocial factors by these breastfeeding categories. We developed binary breastfeeding duration variables by those never breastfeeding or breastfeeding ≤4 months to perform binary logistic regression models. Finally, we examined differences between categories of breastfeeding duration using multinomial logistic models. Results Mothers with primary and secondary education had lower odds of having breastfed exclusively for ≤4 months (OR 0.43 [0.30, 0.60] and 0.64 [0.46, 0.89]), respectively, compared to mothers with higher education. Mothers with primary education were also 2.21 [1.05, 4.50] times as likely to have never breastfed relative to breastfeeding exclusively for 4–6 months compared to highly-educated mothers. Compared to younger mothers (30–39 years), older mothers (40 + years) had a greater likelihood of never exclusively breastfeeding, relative to exclusively breastfeeding for 4–6 months (RR 3.28 [1.80, 5.96]). Finally, mothers who had lower perceived life-satisfaction had a lower likelihood (RR 0.60 [0.45, 0.77]) of exclusively breastfeeding >6 months compared to mothers with very high satisfaction. Conclusions Our results can help to inform policy makers about disparities in exclusive breastfeeding practices to better tailor services to underserved mothers within Indonesia. Funding Sources NSF IRES US-Indonesian Research Experience #182,693.