Who breastfeeds in New Brunswick, when and why?

We studied infant feeding in a representative sample of primiparous mothers of six-month-old infants in New Brunswick in 1982-83. At birth, 56% of infants were breastfed, decreasing to 31% at three months and 16% at six months; fewer were breastfed, and this for shorter periods of time, among the French population, those of lower socio-economic status or younger mothers. Most of the mothers who did not breastfeed did not attend prenatal classes and almost half had decided before their pregnancy to breastfeed or not. Most mothers breastfed because they felt their milk was better. Bottlefeeding mothers were mainly motivated by its convenience.