Bed-Sharing at 3 Months and Breast-Feeding at 1 Year in Southern Brazil

• Published in: The Journal of pediatrics Vol. 155; no. 4; pp. 505 - 509
• Main Authors: Santos, Iná S., PhD, Mota, Denise M., PhD, Matijasevich, Alicia, PhD, Barros, Aluísio J.D., PhD, Barros, Fernando C.F., PhD
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Maryland Heights, MO Elsevier Inc 01.10.2009; Elsevier; Mosby
• Subjects: Age Factors; Beds; Biological and medical sciences; Brazil; Breast Feeding; Cohort Studies; Female; General aspects; Habits; Humans; Infant; Male; Medical sciences; Original; Pediatrics; Sleep; Socioeconomic Factors; Weaning; South America; Brazil; America; LBW; Prevalence ratio; PR; SIDS; BF; CI; Low birth weight; Breast-feeding; DLP; Confidence interval; National Economic Indicator (Brazil); IEN; Sudden infant death syndrome; Date of last period; Human; South; Pediatrics; Infant; Breast feeding
• ISSN: 0022-3476; 1097-6833
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2009.04.037

Objective To investigate the association between bedsharing at age 3 months and breastfeeding (BF) at age 12 months. Study design Almost all children born in Pelotas, Brazil in 2004 (99.2%) were enrolled in a cohort study. At birth, age 3 months, and age 12 months, mothers were interviewed to gather information on sociodemographic, reproductive, BF, and bedsharing characteristics. Bedsharing was defined as habitual sharing of a bed between mother and child for the entire night or part of the night. The analysis was limited to children from single births who were breastfed at 3 months. Multivariate analyses were carried out using Poisson regression. Results Of 4231 live births, 2889 were breastfed at age 3 months. The prevalence of BF at age 12 months was 59.2% in the children who bedshared at 3 months and 44% in those who did not (adjusted prevalence ratio [PR] for weaning= 0.75; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.69-0.81; P < .001). Among children who were exclusively breastfed at 3 months, 75.1% of those who also bedshared were still breastfed at age 12 months, versus 52.3% of those who did not bedshare (adjusted PR = 0.63; 95% CI = 0.53- 0.75; P < .001). The adjusted PR was 0.74 (95% CI = 0.60-0.90; P = .003) in children who were predominantly breastfed and 0.83 (95% CI = 0.76-0.90; P < .001) in those who were partially breastfed. Conclusions Bedsharing at 3 months protected against weaning up to age 12 months.