Smith Julie P, Forrester Robert
1 Menzies Centre for Health Policy, School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet), College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University , Canberra, Australia .
2 Statistical Consulting Unit, The Australian National University , Canberra, Australia .
Breastfeed Med. 2017 Jun;12:269-278. doi: 10.1089/bfm.2016.0118. Epub 2017 May 16.
Breastfeeding supports child development through complex mechanisms that are not well understood. Numerous studies have compared how well breastfeeding and nonbreastfeeding mothers interact with their child, but few examine how much interaction occurs.
Our study of weekly time use among 156 mothers of infants aged 3-9 months investigated whether lactating mothers spend more time providing emotional support or cognitive stimulation of their infants than nonbreastfeeding mothers, and whether the amount of such interactive time is associated with breastfeeding intensity. Mothers were recruited via mother's and baby groups, infant health clinics, and childcare services, and used an electronic device to record their 24-hour time use for 7 days. Sociodemographic and feeding status data were collected by questionnaire. Statistical analysis using linear mixed modeling and residual maximum likelihood analysis compared maternal time use for those giving "some breastfeeding" and those "not breastfeeding." Analysis was also conducted for more detailed feeding subgroups.
Breastfeeding and nonbreastfeeding mothers had broadly similar socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. Breastfeeding was found to be associated with more mother-child interaction time, a difference only partially explained by weekly maternal employment hours or other interactive care activities such as play or reading.
This study presents data suggesting that lactating mothers spent significantly more hours weekly on milk feeding and on carrying, holding, or soothing their infant than nonlactating mothers; and on providing childcare. Understanding the mechanisms by which child mental health and development benefits from breastfeeding may have important implications for policies and intervention strategies, and could be usefully informed by suitably designed time use studies.
母乳喂养通过尚不为人充分理解的复杂机制支持儿童发育。众多研究比较了母乳喂养和非母乳喂养的母亲与孩子互动的情况，但很少有研究考察互动的时长。
我们对156名3至9个月婴儿的母亲每周的时间利用情况进行了研究，调查哺乳期母亲是否比非母乳喂养的母亲花费更多时间为婴儿提供情感支持或认知刺激，以及这种互动时间的长短是否与母乳喂养强度相关。通过母婴群体、婴儿健康诊所和儿童保育服务机构招募母亲，她们使用电子设备记录7天内24小时的时间利用情况。通过问卷调查收集社会人口统计学和喂养状况数据。使用线性混合模型和残差最大似然分析进行统计分析，比较“部分母乳喂养”母亲和“非母乳喂养”母亲的时间利用情况。还对更详细的喂养亚组进行了分析。
母乳喂养和非母乳喂养的母亲在社会经济和人口统计学特征上大致相似。研究发现母乳喂养与更多的母婴互动时间相关，每周母亲的工作时长或其他互动式照料活动（如玩耍或阅读）只能部分解释这种差异。
本研究提供的数据表明，哺乳期母亲每周花在喂奶、抱孩子或安抚孩子上的时间比非哺乳期母亲显著更多；且在提供儿童照料方面也是如此。了解母乳喂养对儿童心理健康和发育有益的机制可能对政策和干预策略具有重要意义，而精心设计的时间利用研究可能会为此提供有益信息。
