Abstract
BackgroundIn China, less than one third of infants under 6 months of age are being exclusively breastfed. Maternal rural-to-urban migration contributes to these low rates of breastfeeding practices. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of breastfeeding practices and associated factors among rural-to-urban migrant children and local children with infants aged 0–12 months in China, 2018.MethodsData were collected from a population-based cross-sectional survey in 2018 that included 6995 infants from eight urban areas (four metropolis and four medium sized/small cities) in China. The prevalence of breastfeeding practices was calculated using a 24-h recall questionnaire for all infants aged under 12 months. Logistic regression was conducted to examine the association between the prevalence of breastfeeding practices and maternal migrant status, after adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, mother-infant health information and supportive information. For exclusive breastfeeding, we further analyzed its association with maternal rural-to-urban migration, stratified by maternal education level, maternal resident place and maternal ethnicity, respectively.ResultsThe overall prevalence of ever breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding, predominant breastfeeding and age-appropriate breastfeeding (exclusive breastfeeding of infants under 6 months of age and complementary feeding from six to 12 months of age) was 97.51, 29.84, 59.89 and 45.07%, respectively. Rural-to-urban migrant children were less likely to be exclusively breastfed compared to local children (AOR 0.81, 95% CI 0.68, 0.95). Stratified by different sociodemographic variables, a negative association between exclusive breastfeeding and rural-to-urban migration was only found in the group with high education level, in the group living in metropolis and in the group of minorities, respectively.ConclusionsThe overall prevalence of breastfeeding practices was low in both rural-to-urban migrant children and local children. Besides common strategies, special approaches should be provided for urban highly educated migrants.
Highlights
In China, less than one third of infants under 6 months of age are being exclusively breastfed
Association between breastfeeding practices and rural-tourban migration In the present study, we found that prevalence of the four breastfeeding practices in rural-to-urban migrants was slightly, but not significantly lower than that of local population
We found no other study discussing the association between rural-tourban migrant status and breastfeeding practices in China
Summary
In China, less than one third of infants under 6 months of age are being exclusively breastfed. Maternal rural-to-urban migration contributes to these low rates of breastfeeding practices. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of breastfeeding practices and associated factors among rural-to-urban migrant children and local children with infants aged 0–12 months in China, 2018. Breastfeeding practices are predicted by demographic factors (i.e., maternal age, education, employment, income, residence), health-related factors (like parity), social support and policies [5]. Rural-to-urban migrant population are more vulnerable to health-related issues such as unhealthy lifestyle [6], low rate of medical treatment seeking behaviors [7, 8] and deficient disease management [9]. Many infants and children have moved into cities with their parents for better health-related services and education
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