Table 2.

Characteristic of mother and baby pairs and some feeding practices during hospital stay. Figures are number (percentage) of mothers unless stated otherwise

Variable	Group 1*				Group 2*†
	Phase 1	Phase 2	Phase 3		Phase 1	Phase 2	Phase 3
No of mothers	529	515	516		483	342	284
Mean (range) age (years)	29.0 (15-44)‡	29.1 (15-43)‡	29.3 (16-43)‡		30.0 (17-43)‡	30.2 (19-41)‡	31.0 (19-44)‡
Multiparous	262 (49)	278 (54)‡	272 (52)		225 (46)§	134 (39)‡§	134 (47)§
Previous child breast fed	214 (83)	227 (84)	212 (82)‡		195 (87)	123 (87)	119 (90)‡
Caesarean section	207 (39)‡	209 (41)‡§	166 (33)‡§		77 (16)‡	56 (16)‡	42 (15)‡
Mean (range) birth weight (g)	3299 (2150-5480)	3305 (2020-5300)	3283 (2000-4820)		3351 (2050-5170)	3340 (2080-4650)	3331 (2050-4870)
Mean (range) time to first breast feed (hours)	9.1 (0-72)‡	5.8 (0-76)‡	4.2 (0-48)‡		6.7 (0-76)‡	6.1 (0-72)‡	3.3 (0-48)‡
Breast fed within 1 hour	64 (12)‡§	112 (22)‡§	141 (28)‡§		149 (32)‡	123 (37)‡§	166 (60)‡§
Breast fed after 12 hours	143 (27)‡§	89 (17)§	46 (9)§		94 (20)‡	56 (17)§	31 (11)§
Breast fed on demand	437 (83)§	494 (97)§	455 (90)‡§		372 (80)§	329 (97)§	279 (99)‡
Formula supplement	179 (35)§	83 (17)‡§	75 (15)‡		148 (31)‡	27 (8)‡§	21 (8)‡
Use of feeding bottle	302 (58)‡§	69 (14)‡§	97 (19)‡§		365 (77)‡§	230 (70)‡§	70 (26)‡§
Use of pacifier	291 (56)‡§	99 (19)‡§	94 (18)‡		344 (72)‡§	213 (63)‡§	145 (52)‡§
Full time rooming in	372 (72)‡§	456 (89)‡§	460 (89)‡		110 (23)‡§	122 (36)‡§	219 (77)‡§
Shown latching on	350 (67)‡§	450 (88)‡§	455 (88)‡		412 (86)‡§	262 (77)‡§	263 (93)‡§
Shown how to express breast milk	314 (60)§	384 (75)‡§	404 (78)		270 (57)§	145 (43)‡§	202 (72)§

^*Intervention after phase 1 in group 1 and after phase 2 in group 2. 

^†Difference in sample size between phase one and two due to reduction in number of hospitals from four to three, and between phase two and three to loss of 60 datasets. 

Difference within phases between groups (^‡) and between phases within group (^§) significant at at least P<0.05.