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Breastfeeding intentions and practices among the different vegetarian groups in the United States (1016.8)
Author(s) -
Armstrong Anne,
Anderson Alex
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.28.1_supplement.1016.8
Subject(s) - breastfeeding , medicine , demography , breastfeeding promotion , promotion (chess) , family medicine , pediatrics , sociology , politics , political science , law
The study assessed the breastfeeding (BF) intentions and practices among the different types of vegetarian women in the United States. This was a cross‐sectional online survey. The survey was emailed to administrators of vegetarian listservs for the membership to complete. Most of the respondents were vegans (38.9%), Caucasians (77%), employed (80.3%), married (53.4%), and have education above high school (82.1%). 74.5% were breastfed as a child. Overall, the proportion of participants who intended to BF was higher than actual BF practice, irrespective of vegetarian type. While intentions for exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for 6 months was 67.7%, 51.7% of the participants reported to have EBF a previous child for 6 months. While 50% of flexitarians intended to EBF, 79.1% of vegans intended to EBF for 6 months. BF practice was generally low compared to BF intentions among the different vegetarian groups with only 5.1% of flexitarians, lacto‐vegetarians and ovo‐vegetarians, respectively compared to 44.4% vegans reported to have BF a previous child. In conclusion, although a greater percentage of vegetarians intend to BF, only a small proportion actually reported to have BF, suggesting a disconnect between BF intentions and actual practice. Our findings suggest an understanding of the barriers to BF among the different vegetarian groups to inform effective BF promotion and support for these groups of women.