World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for six months. Despite its well- documented benefits, breastfeeding rates worldwide do not meet the recommended goals. The aim of this study was to identify factors that could influence exclusive breastfeeding at hospital discharge. All live, singleton, term births in a private hospital of Athens, Greece between January and December 2019 were included with a final study sample of 7336 women and newborns. Our study identifies several factors associated with nonexclusive breastfeeding ta hospital discharge: nullipara women compared to multipara (OR 0.73; 95% CI 0.66, 0.82), cesarean delivery compared to vaginal delivery (OR 1.83; 95% CI 1.65, 2.03), smoking during pregnancy (OR 1.28; 95% CI 1.15, 1.44), gestational age at 37+0- 38+6 weeks compared to 39+0- 41+6 weeks (OR 0.70; 95% CI 0.62, 0.78), birthweight <2500g (OR 0.38; 95% CI 0.22, 0.35), and admission to neonatal intensive unit (NICU) after delivery (OR 8.19; 95% CI 6.65, 10.08). No association was observed for maternal age, pregnancy after assisted reproductive technology, gestational diabetes, obstetric complication, and sex of the newborn. It is expected that our results will allow future comparisons between different hospitals in the same country, as well as comparison of practices with other countries. Several perinatal factors related to nonexclusive breastfeeding at hospital discharge, most noteworthy were caesarean section and admission to NICU.
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