The Association Between Infant Feeding Intentions, Body Issues, and Information Seeking Behaviors During Pregnancy

Theoretical Background and research questions/hypothesis: As part of Healthy People 2020, the proportion of infants who are breastfed ever and exclusively through 6 months are targeted for improvement. Though the benefits of breastfeeding for mother and child are quite extensive and significant, less than half of infants are breastfeed for six months, and just about a third of infants are breastfeed exclusively for the first 3 months, based on data from the 2006 National Immunization Survey.  Breastfeeding can be inhibited by a number of physical, psychological, economic, and social factors. One such factor is the presence of inconsistent, confusing, or ambiguous information about breastfeeding, while another factor identified in research is poor body satisfaction. Potential information sources on maternal and infant nutrition have increased exponentially over the last 5 years. Women may consult doctors, websites and magazines, books, family members, and friends.   Ironically, the quantity and diversity of information available may result in information overload and perceptions of ambiguous and contradictory messages.  Applying Media Complementarity Theory, this study sought to investigate: RQ1: How do the sources of information consulted relate to breastfeeding attitudes and intentions? RQ2: How do sources of information consulted relate to plans to introduce foods into the infant’s diet? RQ3: How do the sources of information consulted relate to body concerns?

Methods:  218 pregnant women completed an online survey.

Results: Endorsement of breastfeeding as the best method of feeding was high (82%), though varied positively with body satisfaction, pre-pregnancy weight concern, and use of nutrition/fitness websites. Higher use of parenting websites and medical websites associated with lower endorsement of “breast is best. Intentions to breastfeed associated positively with higher body satisfaction during pregnancy and higher consultation of nutrition websites and friends. Lower breastfeeding intentions were predicted by higher use of medical websites, pregnancy magazines, and entertainment magazines.  Intentions to introduce juice at an earlier age were predicted by higher use of parenting websites, magazines, and books, as well as greater consultation with mothers and friends. Plans to introduce cereal at an earlier age were predicted by higher use of pregnancy magazines and advice seeking from mothers, friends, and providers. Greater use of nutrition and medical websites were associated with intentions to introduce later. Concerns over breasts losing shape due to breastfeeding were positively associated with relying on friends, websites, and celebrities as sources of information about infant feeding.  

Conclusions:  Attitudes and intentions to breastfeed, along with plans to introduce juice and cereal into infant’s diet, seem to be oddly related to seeking information from a wide variety of media and interpersonal sources. Body issues remain an important issue to address as they continually associate with breastfeeding attitudes and intentions.

Implications for research and/or practice: The variance accounted by the models was not especially high. Other factors are likely accounting for the variance in breastfeeding attitudes and intentions. Additional research into information sources, dissemination of messages, and the nature of messaging about breastfeeding is warranted.