Table 2.
Participant characteristics (n = 5489)
| Breastfeeding | n (%) children or mean (SD) covariate |
|---|---|
| Ever been breastfed, n (%) | 3798 (69.2) |
| Breastfed for ≥4 months, n (%) | 1767 (32.2) |
| Exclusively breastfed for ≥4 months, n (%) | 884 (16.1) |
| FSP score | |
| Total FSP, mean (SD) | 88.3 (17.8) |
| Pregnancy and perinatal factors | |
| Mother smoked during pregnancy, n (%) | 1241 (22.6) |
| Child admitted to neonatal unit, n (%) | 304 (5.5) |
| Mother's age <24 at baseline years, n (%) | 1137 (20.7) |
| Early childhood factors | |
| Mother's low educational level (NVQ 1–2 or equivalent)*, n (%) | 2356 (42.9) |
| Low occupational household SEP † , n (%) | 337 (6.1) |
| Mother single parent, n (%) | 721 (13.1) |
| Malaise scale (when child was 9 months old), mean (SD) | 3.08 (3.7) |
| Age started any child care (months), mean (SD) | 16.6 (14.5) |
| Ever (at Sweep 1 or 3) attended formal child care, n (%) | 4215 (76.8) |
FSP, Foundation Stage Profile; SD, standard deviation. *NVQ, National Vocational Qualification. Levels 4–5 are approximately equivalent to university degree, level 3 is approximately equivalent to A‐levels, levels 1–2 are approximately equivalent to secondary school. †Low household SEP (routine/manual, never worked/unemployed).