Svenskfödda och utlandsfödda kvinnors amningsplanering och amningsduration

Background: In Sweden, the breastfeeding rate has decreased in recent years. Breastfeeding provides short-term and long-term health effects of the child and the woman. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate planning and duration of breastfeeding, and examine whether there were differences between Swedish-born and foreign-born women regarding duration of breastfeeding during the child's first year. Design / Methodology: This is a survey in which 3390 women responded to a questionnaire at enrollment prenatal, 2581 women responded to a questionnaire in late pregnancy and 1257 women responded one year after pregnancy. The material was analyzed with descriptive statistics. Results: There were 1135 women who responded to both questionnaires regarding planning and duration of breastfeeding. A significant difference was found between the planned breastfeeding and duration of breastfeeding. There were 260 women who breastfed for a shorter period and 265 who breastfed for a longer period than they had planned. This issue included all women regardless of country of birth. A large proportion of women who breastfed the child at the age of 12 months wanted to continue breastfeeding until the baby was 1-1.5 years or as long as the child himself wanted. It showed no difference regarding duration of breastfeeding between Swedish-born and foreign-born women. The most common reasons why women chose not to breastfeed was that the woman or the child did not want to. The most common reasons that women choose to stop breastfeeding was that the child did not get satisfied or that the child did not want to suckle. Conclusion: Differences were observed regarding breastfeeding planning and duration of breastfeeding. Care needs to focus on providing support and education to women in order to increase motivation to breastfeeding