Preventive health behaviours among parents of infants aged four months

Abstract: Six preventive health behaviours have been frequently identified as having the potential to reduce mortality and morbidity during infancy: breast‐feeding until the age of six months; no solid food until after four months of age; immunisation against whooping cough, diphtheria, poliomyelitis and tetanus; the use of a baby capsule to restrain the infant when travelling in a motor vehicle; regular attendance at a health care provider for preventive health checks; and no maternal smoking. This study surveyed 191 primiparous women four months after the birth of their babies to explore the proportion of parents who perform the recommended preventive health behaviours and the association among the behaviours. Thirty‐nine per cent of the women reported that they were no longer breast‐feeding by the time their infant was four months old; 35 per cent had introduced solids before 16 weeks of age; 35 per cent did not always use a baby capsule when travelling with their baby in their car; 25 per cent did not regularly attend the early childhood health centres and 22 per cent smoked. Forty‐eight per cent of the sample were performing four or fewer of the six preventive health behaviours and 21 per cent were performing three or fewer. The relationship between performing each preventive health behaviour and a range of demographic variables was investigated. A logistic regression indicated that performing three or fewer of the health behaviours was associated with lower levels of education, having public health insurance and being born in a country other than Australia.