Filling the Gap: Trends in and Factors Related to Infant Feeding Choice in the U.S. from 1925-1964

Identifying infant feeding (IF) practices of the mothers of the nurse daughters in the Nurses' Health Cohort Studies provides early life data to link to the daughter's adult disease risk. The objective is to describe the rates of exclusive breastfeeding (XBR); of ever breastfeeding i.e. XBR plus breast and bottle-feeding (Ever BR); and of exclusive bottle-feeding (XBot) from 1925-1964; and to identify the factors influencing IF choice by birth cohort via a retrospective cohort in the Nurses' Health Cohort Studies (N= 39,743). Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to calculate the adjusted odds ratios for Ever BR and XBR. 80% of mothers in the Great Depression Ever BR and this rate steadily declined to 37% in 1964. A declining trend also appeared in XBR from 41% to 10%. Factors positively associated with Ever BR were: any maternal college education compared to <12 years of education and delivering a low or high compared to normal birth weight nurse daughter. Factors negatively associated with Ever...