Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2022 Mar;23(3):e13371.
doi: 10.1111/obr.13371. Epub 2021 Oct 6.

Interventions to support women with overweight or obesity or gestational diabetes mellitus to initiate and continue breastfeeding: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Zoe L Reichental  1 , Victoria M O'Brien  1 , Sharleen L O'Reilly  2
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Interventions to support women with overweight or obesity or gestational diabetes mellitus to initiate and continue breastfeeding: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Zoe L Reichental et al. Obes Rev. 2022 Mar.

Abstract

Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended for the first 6 months of life and benefits both mother and child. Women with overweight/obesity or gestational diabetes are at risk for poor breastfeeding outcomes. This review evaluates the efficacy of breastfeeding interventions in these at-risk populations. The review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement. Five databases were searched for interventions from inception to May 2020. Nineteen trials including 2,740 participants, 226 of which were dyads, were included. Intervention increased any breastfeeding at ≥6 months (OR 1.43, 95% CI [1.05-1.95]), and women in the intervention group were 90% more likely to exclusively breastfeed at 1-2 weeks (OR 1.9, 95% CI [1.17-3.09]) and more than twice as likely to exclusively breastfeed at 4-6 weeks (OR 2.23, 95% CI [1.27-3.90]) within the sensitivity analysis. These findings support breastfeeding interventions improving exclusive early postpartum breastfeeding and any breastfeeding from 6 months in women with gestational diabetes or obesity/overweight. Further randomized controlled trials with harmonized breastfeeding outcome reporting are needed to confirm efficacy.

Keywords: breastfeeding; gestational diabetes; obesity; overweight.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Eidelman AI, Schanler RJ. Breastfeeding and the use of human milk. Pediatrics. 2012;129(3):e827-e841.
    1. Victora CG, Bahl R, Barros AJ, et al. Breastfeeding in the 21st century: epidemiology, mechanisms, and lifelong effect. Lancet. 2016;387(10017):475-490.
    1. World Health Organization. The optimal duration of exclusive breastfeeding: report of an expert consultation. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2001.
    1. Hummel S, Hummel M, Knopff A, Bonifacio E, Ziegler AG. Breastfeeding in women with gestational diabetes. Dtsch Med Wochenschr. 2008;133(5):180-184.
    1. Finkelstein SA, Keely E, Feig DS, Tu X, Yasseen AS, Walker M. Breastfeeding in women with diabetes: lower rates despite greater rewards. A population-based study. Diabet Med. 2013;30(9):1094-1101.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources