The goal of this study was to determine whether perceived levels of social support affected birth weight. Data suggested that infants born to African-American mothers were, on average, 297 grams lighter than those born to white mothers. For African-American mothers only, the mean birth weight decreased significantly as the neighborhood level of economic disadvantage increased. A positive association between perceived levels of social support and birth weight was found for white mothers only.
This studied aimed to determine the relationship between stress and breastfeeding duration. Survey data from more than 700 mostly urban, low-income US mothers showed that all four stress categories (i.e., financial, emotional, partner associated, and traumatic) were associated with shorter breastfeeding duration.
The objective of this study was to assess the costs of providing support to low-income women who breastfeed, compared with savings resulting from the intervention. The results showed that the support for breastfeeding that community health nurses and peer counselors provided was partially offset by the reduced need for medical care and formula feeding costs.
This study investigated barriers to breastfeeding faced by inner-city African-American women. The following themes emerged from focus groups: low self-esteem, low self-efficacy, fear of social isolation, formula as a cultural norm, worries about breastfeeding in public, challenging family relationships, negative postpartum hospital experiences, and lack of support after going home.
This study examines predictors of breastfeeding exclusivity in low-income women who received services from a Chicago-area WIC clinic. researchers found that women who received first-trimester prenatal care were more likely to exclusively breastfeed than were women who entered prenatal care in later trimesters. In addition, women who declared intentions prenatally to exclusively breastfeed were more likely to exclusively breastfeed than were women who did not intend to breastfeed. Furthermore, overweight/obese women were less likely to exclusively breastfeed than were normal/underweight women.
This study aimed to assess maternal perception of infant-feeding cues and pressuring feeding styles in an urban Latina WIC population. The results suggested that most mothers perceived that babies sensed their own satiety. Two perceptions of feeding cues were related to pressuring feeding style: the beliefs that (1) infant crying must indicate hunger and that (2) infant hand sucking implies hunger. Improving responsiveness to infant cues should be a component of early childhood obesity prevention.
The purpose of this study was to assess whether providing a breastfeeding support team would result in higher breastfeeding rates at 6, 12, and 24 weeks postpartum among urban low-income mothers. There were no differences in the sociodemographic characteristics between the groups. Compared with the usual-care group, more women reported breastfeeding in the intervention at 6 weeks postpartum.
The purpose of this study was to determine whether breastfeeding attitudes were associated with breastfeeding intent and sociodemographic variables. The findings suggested that targeting breastfeeding initiatives toward low-income, less-educated, US-born mothers who lacked breastfeeding support from their loved ones might improve breastfeeding rates among urban first-time mothers.
This study explored the context of black women's infant-feeding decisions in an urban WIC clinic. The study revealed that the availability of free formula facilitated bottle-feeding choices. However, incorporating personalized breastfeeding promotion and building a trusting relationship with WIC providers encouraged breastfeeding decisions for almost half of the key informants.
The study assessed the efficacy of peer counseling to promote exclusive breastfeeding among low-income inner-city women in Hartford, Connecticut. The results indicated that well-structured intensive breastfeeding support provided by hospital and community-based peer counselors was effective in improving exclusive breastfeeding rates among low-income inner-city women.
