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Original research
Breastfeeding exposure is associated with better knowledge of and attitudes toward BF in Kuwaiti women
  1. Dalal Usamah Alkazemi1 and
  2. Roberts Jackson2
  1. 1Food Science and Nutrition, Kuwait University, Aladailiya, Kuwait
  2. 2Nutrition and Food Science, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Dalal Usamah Alkazemi, Food Science and Nutrition, Kuwait University, Aladailiya, Kuwait; dalal.alkazemi{at}ku.edu.kw

Abstract

Objectives Breastfeeding (BF) has many benefits for both infants and mothers. However, despite evidence in support of BF, its prevalence has remained low in Kuwait. The purpose of this study was to (1) assess and describe BF attitudes and knowledge among women at a college campus; (2) evaluate BF exposures and sociodemographic factors associated with attitudes toward BF; (3) determine the association between BF knowledge and attitudes.

Materials and methods This survey was a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted from February to April 2016. A convenience sample of 330 women (students, faculty and staff) from the College of Life Sciences (CLS) at Kuwait University participated in the survey.

Results Most of the participants respected women who breast fed (81.8%). Some participants believed that BF a baby is painful (43.3%), makes the breasts sag (35.8%), and restricts the mothers’ freedom (51.5%). Additionally, 47.6% of the participants reported that they would feel embarrassed if they saw a woman BF her baby. Acceptability of BF in public was low and most participants preferred BF only around friends and family (52.4%). A statistically significant positive association was observed between BF knowledge and attitudes (R2=6.5%, p<0.001); however, the relationship was not independent and was also associated with nationality and having been breast fed as a baby (R2=10.3%, p=0.021).

Conclusion BF knowledge is important to encourage positive BF attitudes, and both are enforced with family values and practice across generations.

  • breastfeeding
  • breastfed women
  • knowledge
  • attitudes

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjnph-2019-000027

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    Footnotes

    • Twitter @Dalal_Alkazemi

    • Contributors DUA conceived and designed the study. DUA coordinated data collection and entry and performed the statistical analysis. DUA and RJ wrote the manuscript. Both authors have critically reviewed and approved the final draft and are responsible for the content and similarity index of the manuscript.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent for publication Signed informed consent was obtained from all participants who were advised that they could withdraw from the study for any reason.

    • Ethics approval Kuwait University Administration approved this protocol before study implementation, and approval for human subjects’ research was obtained from the Department of Food Science and Nutrition Research Committee. No further approvals were required.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data availability statement Data are available upon reasonable request.