Breast‐feeding in Athens, Greece

<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Objectives:</jats:title><jats:p>To determine the prevalence, examine the influence of hospital practices and investigate potential determinants of breast‐feeding in Athens.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Patients and Methods:</jats:title><jats:p>Three hundred twelve mothers provided information regarding feeding practices at certain maternity hospitals in Athens, at 40 days and 6 months postpartum. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate the association between the initiation and maintenance of breast‐feeding and potential risk factors.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results:</jats:title><jats:p>Although almost 90% of newborn infants were given a breast milk substitute one or more times during the first 2 days at the maternity hospital, the exclusive breast‐feeding percentage on the last day of hospital stay reached 85%. Breast‐feeding and exclusive breast‐feeding percentages dropped to 55% and 35%, respectively, at 40 days postpartum and to 16% and 12%, respectively, at 6 months postpartum. While in the hospital, 3% of mothers initiated breast‐feeding within 1 hour of labor, only 34% were informed about the advantages of breast‐feeding by health professionals and 42% were trained to breast‐feed by the midwives. “Rooming‐in” was not practiced in the private hospitals. The educational level was positively associated with the initiation of breast‐feeding [odds ratio (OR):1.36, confidence interval (CI):1.02‐1.81], the mother's body mass index was negatively associated with the maintenance of breast‐feeding for 40 days (OR:0.56, CI:0.32‐0.98) and 6 months (OR:0.28, CI:0.06‐1.26) and a caesarean section was negatively associated with the initiation (OR:0.24, CI:0.11‐0.49) and maintenance of breast‐feeding (OR:0.42, CI:0.20‐0.89).</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusions:</jats:title><jats:p>Breast‐feeding is not appropriately supported in certain maternity hospitals in Athens, and this is probably the cause of observed low breast‐feeding prevalence.</jats:p></jats:sec>