actors Influencing Lactation: Part I. Maternal

Separate studies were conducted to determine the effect of age; parity and pre-eclamptic toxemia upon the duration of breastfeeding. Women who delivered in the Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion Edinburgh during 1948 and 1949 comprised the study population. 2 other groups of women treated in the same hospital between January 1947 and June 1950 were also studied to determine the possible relationship of height and weight to successful lactation. A control group of women was also selected at random from the same hospital. The results show that elderly women tend to resort to artificial feeding of their infants in the 1st 2 weeks of puerperium compared to younger women. Women less than 5 feet tall more frequently weaned their infants prematurely than taller women the difference being apparent after the 2nd week of lactation and only between the 3rd and 26th week of lactation. A small group of women whose weight was below the minimum for their age and height had considerably more difficulty in breastfeeding than heavier women. 70% of mothers who breastfed their infants for 6 months lost from 1 to 23 lb. in weight during that time and 36% who breastfed for 6 months had returned to their former weight by the end of that time. About 30% breastfeeding for 6 months gained between 1 to 64 lbs. of weight. The greater difficulty in breastfeeding in pre-eclamptic women was due in part to the mothers illness and partly to the higher incidence of prematurity in such women.