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Modeling the Influence of Early Skin-to-Skin Contact on Exclusive Breastfeeding in a Sample of Hispanic Immigrant Women

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Abstract

Using data from a longitudinal study of breastfeeding in Hispanics, this study evaluated the influence of early skin-to-skin contact (SSC) on initiation and sustained exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) at 1 month postpartum. Two-thirds of the women in the sample participated in early SSC. At discharge, over half of the women were EBF; this proportion decreased to one-third at 1 month postpartum. Controlling for demographic and clinical variables in the model, participation in early SSC was associated with a greater than sevenfold increase in the odds of EBF at discharge (p = .005) but was not predictive of EBF at 1 month post-discharge (p = .7). Younger maternal age and increased prenatal infant feeding intention were associated with an increased likelihood of EBF across both timepoints. Promoting early SSC may help with initiation of EBF, while further breastfeeding support may be needed to maintain EBF following discharge for this vulnerable population.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Maria Gomez, Dr. PH, and Ana Machado, MPH, for their valuable collaboration in the data collection process.

Funding

This research was funded by the Start Fund of College of Nursing, University of Kentucky, assigned to the first author. Additionally, the project described was supported by the National Center for Research Resources and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, through Grant 8UL1TR000117-02. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Nursing, University of Kentucky, 315 College of Nursing Building, Lexington, KY, 40536-0230, USA

    Ana M. Linares, Mary K. Rayens & Amanda Wiggins

  2. Faculty of Health Science, Universidad de Tarapaca, Arica, Chile

    Ana M. Linares

  3. School of Nursing, University of Kansas, Kansas City, KUMC, Wichita, KS, USA

    Karen Wambach

  4. College of Public Health, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA

    Mary K. Rayens

  5. Polk Dalton Clinic, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA

    Elizabeth Coleman

  6. Department of Internal Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA

    Mark B. Dignan

  7. Prevention Research Center, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA

    Mark B. Dignan

Authors
  1. Ana M. Linares
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  2. Karen Wambach
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  3. Mary K. Rayens
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  4. Amanda Wiggins
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  5. Elizabeth Coleman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ana M. Linares.

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The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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Linares, A.M., Wambach, K., Rayens, M.K. et al. Modeling the Influence of Early Skin-to-Skin Contact on Exclusive Breastfeeding in a Sample of Hispanic Immigrant Women. J Immigrant Minority Health 19, 1027–1034 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-016-0380-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-016-0380-8

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