Maternal religious involvement and breastfeeding initiation and duration.

Abstract

Although religious involvement is associated with a number of beneficial health outcomes, few studies have investigated whether religious involvement is associated with breastfeeding behaviors. Our analyses of 2 waves of data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (n = 4,166) indicate that mothers who frequently attend religious services are more likely to initiate breastfeeding than are mothers who never attend services. Understanding religious variations in breastfeeding may allow public health officials to more effectively target vulnerable populations.