BACKGROUND: As breastfeeding duration increases, it is important to understand diets of breastfeeding women and other factors salient to maternal/offspring health, including stress. It is important to further consider sociodemographic factors, given their associations with nutritional deficiencies and perceived stress. OBJECTIVE: We cross-sectionally compared breastfeeding women's dietary intakes from a food frequency questionnaire (assessing from pregnancy through 3 months postpartum) with Estimated Average Requirements (EARs). We hypothesized that dietary intake was related to sociodemographic variables and parenting stress. DESIGN: We examined a cohort of predominately breastfeeding women. Food frequency questionnaire results were compared with EARs, the Parenting Stress Index: Short Form, and a demographic questionnaire. PARTICIPANTS/ SETTING: Participants included 101 women (of 289 recruited) who breastfed singleton, full-term infants for the first 3 months while using <28 oz formula/wk. The study included community recruitment in rural Oklahoma from 2008 to 2012. STATISTICAL ANALYSES: Mean and standard deviation or frequencies were reported. One-sample t tests compared EARs with mean dietary intakes over the past 12 months. Pearson correlations and one-way analyses of variance explored relationships among dietary, sociodemographic, and stress variables. RESULTS: Twenty-two percent of women did not meet EAR minimum energy recommendations and >40% did not meet protein recommendations. Despite widespread supplement use, some consumed less than the EAR for vitamin E (35%), calcium (22%), and vitamin C (19%). Carbohydrate consumption was positively related to the difficult child scale (r=0.19; P=0.05). Dietary riboflavin (r=-0.19; P=0.05) and vitamin D intake (r=-0.19; P=0.05) were negatively related to the parent-child dysfunction scale. CONCLUSIONS: Despite efforts to enhance education and counseling regarding adequate perinatal nutrition-related practices, even well-educated women may not meet EARs. This poor dietary intake may be associated with parenting stress and have potential long-term implications for child health.
BACKGROUND: As breastfeeding duration increases, it is important to understand diets of breastfeeding women and other factors salient to maternal/offspring health, including stress. It is important to further consider sociodemographic factors, given their associations with nutritional deficiencies and perceived stress. OBJECTIVE: We cross-sectionally compared breastfeeding women's dietary intakes from a food frequency questionnaire (assessing from pregnancy through 3 months postpartum) with Estimated Average Requirements (EARs). We hypothesized that dietary intake was related to sociodemographic variables and parenting stress. DESIGN: We examined a cohort of predominately breastfeeding women. Food frequency questionnaire results were compared with EARs, the Parenting Stress Index: Short Form, and a demographic questionnaire. PARTICIPANTS/ SETTING:Participants included 101 women (of 289 recruited) who breastfed singleton, full-term infants for the first 3 months while using <28 oz formula/wk. The study included community recruitment in rural Oklahoma from 2008 to 2012. STATISTICAL ANALYSES: Mean and standard deviation or frequencies were reported. One-sample t tests compared EARs with mean dietary intakes over the past 12 months. Pearson correlations and one-way analyses of variance explored relationships among dietary, sociodemographic, and stress variables. RESULTS: Twenty-two percent of women did not meet EAR minimum energy recommendations and >40% did not meet protein recommendations. Despite widespread supplement use, some consumed less than the EAR for vitamin E (35%), calcium (22%), and vitamin C (19%). Carbohydrate consumption was positively related to the difficult child scale (r=0.19; P=0.05). Dietary riboflavin (r=-0.19; P=0.05) and vitamin D intake (r=-0.19; P=0.05) were negatively related to the parent-child dysfunction scale. CONCLUSIONS: Despite efforts to enhance education and counseling regarding adequate perinatal nutrition-related practices, even well-educated women may not meet EARs. This poor dietary intake may be associated with parenting stress and have potential long-term implications for child health.
Authors: Ana Gabriella Costa Lemos da Silva; Amanda de Sousa Rebouças; Beatriz Maria Alves Mendonça; Danna Calina Nogueira E Silva; Roberto Dimenstein; Karla Danielly da Silva Ribeiro Journal: Matern Child Nutr Date: 2019-01-30 Impact factor: 3.092