An Exploration of Maternal Prenatal Attachment as It Relates to Breastfeeding Intentions

This study questioned 201 mothers about their breastfeeding intentions, including whether or not they intended to breastfeed exclusively, and intended durations of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding. Mothers in their third trimester were also asked to complete the Prenatal Attachment Inventory, a 21-item scale that scores mothers' emotional attachment to the fetus. No significant relationship was found to exist between prenatal attachment scores and breastfeeding intentions, but a modest relationship (r = 16.5) was found to exist between prenatal attachment scores and exclusive breastfeeding intentions. When controlling for known covariates (breastfeeding experience, perceived level of overall support, timing of return to employment, and number of weekly hours employed), no relationship was shown to exist between maternal prenatal attachment scores and either breastfeeding or exclusive breastfeeding intentions. Crosstabulation revealed that multiparous mothers were twice as likely (56.3%) to be certain that they would both breastfeed and exclusively breastfeed than primiparous mothers (28.9%).