Poster Presentation Australasian Diabetes in Pregnancy Society Annual Scientific Meeting 2016

Factors influencing breastfeeding intention, initiation and duration among women living with Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes in Victoria (#120)

Bodil Rasmussen 1 , Alison Nankervis 2 , Helen Skouteris 3 , Cate Nagle 1 , Cheryl Steele 4 , Catharine McNamara 5 , Wei Wang 1
  1. Deakin University-Western Health Research Partnership, Sunshine Hospital and Centre for Patient Quality and Safety Research, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
  2. Department of Diabetes and Endocrinology, Royal Melbourne Hospital , Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  3. School of Psychology, Faculty of Health, Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  4. Diabetes Education Area, Sunshine Hospital, Furlong Road, St Albans, 3021 Vic, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  5. Diabetes Education, Mercy Hospital for Women, 163 Studley Road, Heidelberg, Vic, 3084, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Breastfeeding has well recognised maternal, infant and public health benefits and the WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding for babies to six months of age. Despite the importance of exclusive breastfeeding, breastfeeding rates and duration of breastfeeding are lower in women with diabetes. This is of particular importance because of the contribution of breastfeeding to optimising neonatal outcomes and that infants of mothers with diabetes are prone to feeding difficulties.

The aim of the study is to identify physical, social, psychological and cultural facilitators and barriers to the intention to breastfeed, the initiation and continuation of breastfeeding from birth for six months among women with type 1 (T1DM) and type 2 (T2DM). Pregnant women in Victoria with T1DM and T2DM were recruited across 3 health services. Data was collected via telephone interviews on four time-points (before childbirth, postnatal, 6-8 weeks postpartum, and 6 months postpartum). The questionnaires comprised Demographics, Infant Feeding Intentions Scale, Pregnancy and Postnatal Wellness surveys. Currently 34 women were interviewed at time1 and 21 women at time2.

Preliminary descriptive statistics show an average age of 34 years and 41.2% of women were having their first child. The initial intention of breastfeeding was high (79.4-91.2%) while 82.3%, 79.4%, and 70.6% of women agreed to breastfeeding child exclusively until the baby is one, three, and six month old, respectively. Higher proportion of women showed positive attitudes towards pregnancy wellbeing than postnatal wellbeing. For example, 94.1% versus 55.9% of women agreed to feel optimistic about baby’s future health during pregnancy versus in postnatal surveys, respectively. In addition, 94.1% versus 58.9% of women agreed to feel emotionally supported by family during pregnancy versus in postnatal surveys, respectively. Once the data collection is completed, the repeated measures will be analysed to detect the relationships between the variables and the trajectories of changes over time.