Breast-feeding patterns of Montserratian women

ABSTRACT

This article describes the breast-feeding patterns found on Montserrat by a survey that interviewed 69 mothers who delivered infants over a 13-month period, from March 1989 through March 1990. The results indicated that 94 percent of the women breast-fed these children for at least two weeks after delivery; that 70 percent were still breast-feeding at the time of the interview in March or April 1990; and that principal factors influencing early termination of breast-feeding were the age at which supplementary feeding was commenced and lack of maternal information about why babies appear to reject the breast. (AU)