[Intergenerational transmission of breastfeeding as a behavioral model]

Abstract

Successful breastfeeding is not an automatism. Like other behavioral models, breastfeeding experience is forwarded from generation to generation. To analyze the influence of previous generation on offspring's breastfeeding. Research was carried out in three general pediatric offices in Croatian towns: Sibenik, Varazdin and Zagreb. Examinees were mothers of preschoolers older than 1 year, and totally 300 mothers were comprised by the questionnaires. Mothers who had been breastfed for longer period (more than 6 mo.) statistically significantly more frequently breastfeed their children over 6 months (chi 2 = 10.4; p = 0.0013), in comparison with mothers who had been breastfed for shorter period (up to 6 mo.). There is no significant difference in children breastfeeding duration (up to 6 mo. vs more than 6 mo.) with regard to whether the mothers lived in autonomous housekeeping, or if they lived in common housekeeping with their mothers, or mothers-in-law (chi 2 = 0.303; p = 0.86; d. f. = 2). The influence of examinees' mothers on decision to breastfeed is more frequently positive (63%) than neutral or negative, while, at the same time, positive influence on decision to breastfeed was exerted by significantly smaller number (40%) of mothers-in-law (chi 2 = 27.87; p < 0.001). The strongest influence on mother's decision to breastfeed was exerted by mass media. In the age of nuclear families, health workers should offer more support to breastfeeding mothers with the aim of achieving successful lactation.