Breastfeeding practices associated with live births of 37 and 38 weeks' gestation relative to singleton live births of 39–40 weeks' gestation
| Breastfeeding up to 1 hour after birth | Exclusive breastfeeding during hospital stay | |||||
| % | OR | AOR* (95% CI) | % | OR | AOR* (95% CI) | |
| Spontaneous† | ||||||
| All | ||||||
| 37 weeks (n=1219) | 47.6 | 0.73 | 0.77 (0.65 to 0.91) | 80.7 | 0.64 | 0.7 (0.58 to 0.85) |
| 38 weeks (n=3213) | 53.1 | 0.91 | 0.96 (0.83 to 1.11) | 86.2 | 0.95 | 1.02 (0.86 to 1.21) |
| 39/40 weeks (n=6178) | 55.3 | Reference | 86.8 | Reference | ||
| No maternal or fetal conditions | ||||||
| 37 weeks (n=1027) | 47.3 | 0.70 | 0.74 (0.63 to 0.94) | 82.5 | 0.69 | 0.77 (0.63 to 0.95) |
| 38 weeks (n=2743) | 54.2 | 0.92 | 0.96 (0.87 to 1.23) | 87.0 | 0.98 | 1.06 (0.88 to 1.23) |
| 39/40 weeks (n=5195) | 56.2 | Reference | 87.2 | Reference | ||
| Maternal or fetal conditions‡ | ||||||
| 37 weeks (n=192) | 49.0 | 0.95 | 0.91 (0.59 to 1.41) | 71.4 | 0.46 | 0.44 (0.29 to 0.68) |
| 38 weeks (n=470) | 46.2 | 0.85 | 0.92 (0.65 to 1.30) | 81.6 | 0.81 | 0.87 (0.59 to 1.28) |
| 39/40 weeks (n=983) | 50.3 | Reference | 84.5 | Reference | ||
| Provider initiated | ||||||
| All | ||||||
| 37 weeks (n=943) | 24.8 | 0.59 | 0.62 (0.51 to 0.76) | 64.6 | 0.56 | 0.59 (0.46 to 0.74) |
| 38 weeks (n=2869) | 30.8 | 0.79 | 0.88 (0.79 to 0.99) | 70.9 | 0.75 | 0.83 (0.72 to 0.96) |
| 39/40 weeks (n=4230) | 35.9 | Reference | 76.6 | Reference | ||
| No maternal or fetal conditions | ||||||
| 37 weeks (n=538) | 26.7 | 0.70 | 0.67 (0.53 to 0.86) | 68.1 | 0.69 | 0.68 (0.51 to 0.89) |
| 38 weeks (n=1980) | 30.9 | 0.85 | 0.87 (0.76 to 0.99) | 71.8 | 0.83 | 0.84 (0.71 to 0.99) |
| 39/40 weeks (n=3069) | 36.4 | Reference | 77.1 | Reference | ||
| Maternal or fetal conditions‡ | ||||||
| 37 weeks (n=405) | 22.3 | 0.54 | 0.58 (0.42 to 0.80) | 60.0 | 0.49 | 0.53 (0.39 to 0.72) |
| 38 weeks (n=889) | 30.4 | 0.83 | 0.95 (0.73 to 1.23) | 69.0 | 0.73 | 0.84 (0.65 to 1.09) |
| 39/40 weeks (n=1161) | 34.6 | Reference | 75.3 | Reference | ||
*Adjusted for capacity of hospital of birth, if baby-friendly initiative hospital, payment of birth, age, years of schooling, parity, previous caesarean section, history of stillbirth or neonatal death and mode of birth.
†Spontaneous onset of labour or premature rupture of membranes.
‡Women with the following conditions: hypertensive disorders (chronic hypertension, pre-eclampsia and HELLP syndrome); eclampsia; pre-existing and gestational diabetes; renal, cardiac or autoimmune diseases; severe infection at admission for birth; placental abruption and placental praevia and fetuses with IUGR.
AOR, adjusted OR; HELLP, haemolysis, elevated liver enzymes and low platelet count; IUGR, intrauterine growth restriction.