Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
Scand J Public Health. 2010 Jun;38(4):337-43. doi: 10.1177/1403494810362002. Epub 2010 Feb 10.
The propensity to breastfeed is a matter of public concern because of the favourable effects for infants. However, very few studies have described the influence of paternal variables upon duration of breastfeeding. The aim of this study was to describe the effects of fathers' socioeconomic status and their use of paternity leave on breastfeeding duration for infants up to 1 year of age.
A prospective population-based cohort study was undertaken. Data on breastfeeding, registered in databases in two Swedish counties for 1993-2001, were matched with data on socioeconomic status and paternity leave obtained from Statistics Sweden. Fathers of 51,671 infants were identified and included.
Infants whose fathers had a lower level of education, were receiving unemployment benefit and/or had a lower equivalent disposable household income were significantly less likely to be breastfed at 2, 4, 6, 9, and 12 months of age. Infants whose fathers did not take paternity leave during the infant's first year were significantly less likely to be breastfed at 2 (p < 0.001), 4 (p < 0.001), and 6 months (p < 0.001).
This paper shows that an enabling of an increased involvement from fathers during the infants' first year of life, such as by paid paternity leave, may have beneficial effects on breastfeeding up to 6 months of age. A more systematic approach to supporting fathers' involvement may be particularly valuable to those infants whose fathers have a lower socioeconomic status.
母乳喂养的倾向是一个公众关注的问题，因为它对婴儿有有利影响。然而，很少有研究描述过父亲的变量对母乳喂养持续时间的影响。本研究旨在描述父亲的社会经济地位及其使用陪产假对婴儿 1 岁以内母乳喂养持续时间的影响。
进行了一项前瞻性基于人群的队列研究。1993-2001 年，在瑞典两个县的数据库中登记了母乳喂养数据，并与来自瑞典统计局的社会经济地位和陪产假数据相匹配。确定并纳入了 51671 名婴儿的父亲。
父亲受教育程度较低、领取失业救济金和/或家庭可支配收入较低的婴儿在 2、4、6、9 和 12 个月时母乳喂养的可能性显著降低。在婴儿出生后的第一年没有休陪产假的父亲，在 2 个月（p < 0.001）、4 个月（p < 0.001）和 6 个月（p < 0.001）时母乳喂养的可能性显著降低。
本文表明，在婴儿生命的第一年增加父亲的参与度，例如通过带薪陪产假，可能对 6 个月大以内的母乳喂养有有益的影响。更系统地支持父亲参与的方法对于那些父亲社会经济地位较低的婴儿可能特别有价值。
