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Breastfeeding Initiation and Duration in Coresident Grandparent, Mother and Infant Households

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Abstract

In the US, the prevalence of three-generation households, where a grandparent, parent and child coreside, has increased in the last decade. Three-generation coresidence during infancy is particularly common and as many as 15 % of infants live in a three-generation household shortly after birth. Although prior research has linked family structure with breastfeeding behavior, no research has studied whether breastfeeding behavior varies by grandparent coresidence. This study is the first to investigate the association between three-generation coresidence and breastfeeding behaviors. This paper uses two data sets, the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Birth Cohort (n ~ 8,250), a nationally representative study of US children, and the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (n = 4,053), an urban sample of mostly low-income unmarried US mothers, to study the association between three-generation coresidence and breastfeeding initiation and duration using multivariate logistic regressions with extensive socio-demographic controls. Three-generation coresidence was associated with lower odds of breastfeeding initiation among the less advantaged mothers but not in the nationally representative sample of mothers. In comparison, three-generation coresidence was associated with lower odds of breastfeeding for 6 months or greater in both study samples. Three-generation coresidence may serve as a marker for differences in the likelihood of breastfeeding that can help inform public health strategies aimed at increasing breastfeeding rates. Research studying interventions with grandparents and the effects on breastfeeding behaviors may be a useful next step in public health promotion of breastfeeding.

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Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Melissa Martinson and Liana Fox, as well as the anonymous reviewers for their feedback on this paper. This research was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under Award Numbers R24HD058486 and 5R01HD036916.

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  1. Columbia Population Research Center, Columbia University’s School of Social Work, 1255 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY, 10027, USA

    Natasha V. Pilkauskas

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Correspondence to Natasha V. Pilkauskas.

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Pilkauskas, N.V. Breastfeeding Initiation and Duration in Coresident Grandparent, Mother and Infant Households. Matern Child Health J 18, 1955–1963 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-014-1441-z

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