Effect of breast-feeding on weight retention at 3 and 6 months postpartum: data from the North Carolina WIC Programme

• Published in: Public health nutrition Vol. 13; no. 12; pp. 2019 - 2026
• Main Authors: Krause, Katrina M, Lovelady, Cheryl A, Peterson, Bercedis L, Chowdhury, Najmul, Østbye, Truls
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.12.2010
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Biological and behavioural determinants; Blacks; body mass index; Body Weight; Bottle Feeding - statistics & numerical data; Breast Feeding - epidemiology; Breast Feeding - statistics & numerical data; Breast-feeding; Breastfeeding & lactation; Child; Children; data analysis; Demography; educational status; Feeding; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; lactating women; Linear Models; low income households; maternal nutrition; Middle Aged; North Carolina; North Carolina - epidemiology; Nutrition; Obesity; Obesity - etiology; Postpartum; Postpartum Period; Pregnancy; Public Assistance; races; Retention; Retrospective Studies; Statistical analysis; Variables; Weight; Weight control; weight retention; Whites; WIC Program; Womens health; Young Adult; North Carolina; United States > US; USA, North Carolina; Obesity; Breast-feeding; Weight; Postpartum
• ISSN: 1368-9800; 1475-2727; 1475-2727
• DOI: 10.1017/S1368980010001503

Pregnancy-related weight retention can contribute to obesity, and breast-feeding may facilitate postpartum weight loss. We investigated the effect of breast-feeding on postpartum weight retention. A retrospective follow-up study of weight retention, compared in women who were fully breast-feeding, combining breast-feeding with formula-feeding (mixed feeding), or formula-feeding at 3 months (n 14 330) or 6 months (n 4922) postpartum, controlling for demographic and weight-related covariates using multiple linear regression. The North Carolina Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Participants in the North Carolina WIC Programme who delivered a baby between 1996 and 2004. In covariate-adjusted analyses, there was no association between breast-feeding and weight retention at 3 months postpartum. At 6 months postpartum, as compared to formula-feeders, mean weight retention was 0·84 kg lower in mixed feeders (95 % CI 0·39, 1·29; P = 0·0002) and 1·38 kg lower in full breast-feeders (95 % CI 0·89, 1·87; P ≤ 0·0001). Breast-feeding was inversely associated with weight retention at 6 months postpartum in this large, racially diverse sample of low-income women. Further, full breast-feeding had a larger protective effect than did breast-feeding combined with formula-feeding.