Intimate partner violence and early interruption of exclusive breastfeeding in the first three months of life.

Maria Helena Hasselmann,Gabriela Vasconcellos De Barros Vianna,Ana Cristina Lindsay,Pamela J Surkan,Guilherme L Werneck

doi:10.1590/0102-311x00017816

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of intimate partner violence in the early interruption of exclusive breastfeeding in the first three months of life. We used data from a prospective cohort of 564 children attending four primary health clinics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Interruption of exclusive breastfeeding was defined as a child receiving any kind of liquid or solid, regardless of breast milk intake, measured by a 24 hour recall. The Portuguese version of the Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS-1) was used to assess intimate partner violence. Associations were expressed as prevalence ratios and relative risks and their respective 95% confidence intervals. Children of mothers who experienced severe violence had 30% greater likelihood of early interruption of exclusive breastfeeding in the second month of life as compared to those who did not experience this type of violence. Strategies in health services for promoting exclusive breastfeeding should consider identifying and addressing family violence.

Highlights

Despite recognition of the importance of breastfeeding [1,2], recent decades have witnessed only modest improvements in the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding 3
Brazil has shown a gradual increase in breastfeeding, suggesting a response to government measures to promote breastfeeding 4, exclusive breastfeeding is still limited to only 41% of children in the first six months of life 5, short of the goal set by the World Health Organization 6
Multivariate results were based on Poisson regression models with robust variance. We evaluated both overall intimate partner violence and severe intimate partner violence in relation to early interruption of exclusive breastfeeding, calculating prevalence ratios and relative risks and their respective 95% confidence intervals (95%CI), adjusting

Summary

Introduction

Despite recognition of the importance of breastfeeding [1,2], recent decades have witnessed only modest improvements in the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding 3. The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding in infants six months old increased from 35% in 1995 to 39% in 2010 3. Studies on the psychosocial determinants of exclusive breastfeeding are welcome and necessary. Recent research on determinants of infant feeding practices, including breastfeeding, has highlighted several relevant psychosocial aspects 7. There are few and inconsistent results concerning the relationship between intimate partner violence and infant feeding practices [10,11,12]. The literature on this topic is largely based on cross-sectional studies on breastfeeding that uses wide age brackets, such as infants from birth to four or six months 12

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion