U.S. High School Age Girls May be Receptive to Breastfeeding Promotion

Abstract

This study sought to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of U.S. high school girls regarding infant feeding to determine if they might be effective targets for breastfeeding promotion strategies. A survey was administered to 100 teenagers in two suburban high schools in the United States. Seventy-nine percent of the girls expected to have children, but only 52% planned to breastfeed. Girls who were breastfed were more likely to plan to breastfeed (83% vs. 35%), as were girls with exposure to breastfeeding (62% vs. 45%). Girls exposed to breastfeeding were more likely to see breastfeeding as beneficial to both the mother (45% vs. 24%) and the infant (86% vs. 60%) and to be interested in breastfeeding education (31% vs. 17%). Teenagers may be an important target group for breastfeeding promotion because many consider the choice of infant feeding before planning pregnancy and have not yet decided whether to breastfeed.