Abstract

PIP: 150 indigent Mexican-American primigravidas were interviewed at Robert B. Green Hospital in San Antonio concerning their knowledge of, and attitudes towards, breast-feeding. 55% said they did not plan to breast-feed, although 74% were aware of some of the immunological effects of human milk. 87%, however, believed bottle-feeding was the "modern way to do things." The decision to nurse was associated positively with higher educational level, for 69% of high school graduates planned to breast-feed in comparison with only 34% of those who did not complete their high school education. Observation of breast-feeding in "significant others" has a positive effect. For example, 71% of those whose mothers had breast-fed planned to do likewise. Husbands' attitudes affected women's plans for breast-feeding; 69% of those women whose husbands approved were planning to breast-feed. But if the husband disapproved, if the wife did not know his feelings, or if the woman had no husband, she was much less likely to breastfeed. The large percentage of those who believed breast-feeding was old-fashioned should prompt prenatal programs to reawaken interest in, and to offer information about, breast-feeding.