Table 4.
Logistic regression analyses comparing proportions of non-overweight and overweight women who agreed that specific reasons were important in their decision to use infant formula in the first month postpartum
| Important Reason for use of Infant Formula | Total (n = 177) |
Non-overweight (n = 98) |
Overweight (n = 79) | Unadjusted | Adjusted a | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % (n) who “agreed” reason was important | P value | OR (95% CI) | P value | |||
| Did not have enough milk | 49 (88) | 48 (48) | 51 (40) | .73 | 1.05 (0.54, 2.16) | .88 |
| Baby didn’t put on enough or lost weight | 34 (61) | 31 (31) | 38 (30) | .35 | 1.15 (0.56, 2.37) | .71 |
| Health professional advice | 31 (56) | 37 (37) | 24 (19) | .064 | 0.36 (1.63, .81) | .013 |
| Formula just as good as breastfeeding | 30 (54) | 22 (22) | 41 (32) | .008 | 2.28 (1.06, 4.92) | .036 |
| Tried breastfeeding before and didn’t like it | 16 (29) | 15 (15) | 18 (14) | .60 | 1.06 (0.42, 2.70) | .89 |
| Didn’t feel comfortable feeding in public | 16 (29) | 15 (15) | 18 (14) | .60 | 1.80 (0.71, 4.56) | .22 |
| Mum sick or on medications | 15 (27) | 14 (14) | 17 (13) | .65 | 1.16 (0.45, 2.95) | .76 |
| Baby sick or preterm | 14 (25) | 11 (11) | 18 (14) | .22 | 1.40 (0.54, 3.68) | .49 |
| Needed someone else to feed baby | 13 (23) | 15 (15) | 10 (8) | .32 | 0.57 (0.19, 1.71) | .32 |
| I wanted to leave baby for hours | 13 (23) | 15 (15) | 10 (8) | .38 | 0.58 (0.19, 1.74) | .33 |
| Someone else wanted to feed baby | 11 (19) | 14 (14) | 6 (5) | .10 | 0.37 (0.11, 1.24) | .11 |
| Breastfeeding too inconvenient | 7 (12) | 5 (5) | 9 (7) | .31 | 2.16 (0.60, 7.77) | .24 |
| I had too many household duties | 6 (11) | 7 (7) | 5 (4) | .58 | 0.83 (0.19, 3.52) | .80 |
| Wanted my body back | 4 (7) | 2 (2) | 6 (5) | – | – | – |
| Wanted to go on diet | 1 (2) | 2 (2) | 0 (0) | – | – | – |
| Wanted to smoke or drink alcohol | 1 (1) | 1 (1) | 0 (0) | – | – | – |
Non-overweight: BMI < 25 kg/m2; Overweight: BMI ≥25 kg/m2
n.b. Analyses based on participants who gave formula during the first month postpartum (177 out of 477); reasons for use of infant formula are not mutually exclusive; analysis not conducted if < 5 cases in either weight status group who “agreed” reason was important
aAdjusted for birth country (mother), mode of delivery and education. N value for adjusted analyses = 172 due to some missing data on covariates