Breastfeeding, smoking and the presence of the child's father in the household

The breastfeeding practice of 312 mothers attending mother and child health centres in Oslo, Norway, was measured using self-administered questionnaires. Having started with supplements at 3 months postpartum was related to having a spouse/cohabitant, smoking, and having only one child (logistic regression with civil state, age, education, smoking, number of children, social support, smoking x civil state, and education x civil state as independent variables). The frequency of having started with supplements increased with increasing maternal cigarette consumption. Among non-smoking, married/cohabiting mothers, the frequency of having started with supplements at 3 months postpartum was 41% if the spouse/cohabitant smoked, compared with 18% if he did not smoke (p < 0.01).