Factors associated with infant feeding practices among Koreans living in Texas, USA and local populations

미국 텍사스주에 거주하는 한국인과 그 지역주민의 영유아 수유실태에 관계된 요인들의 분석비교

This study was undertaken to determine factors associated with infant feeding practices among highly educated Korean mothers living in Texas, USA and local populations. In both groups, infant's birth order, maternal age, prenatal education, husband's attitude, mother's attitude and infant's taking a bottle to bed were not associated with infant's feeding patterns significantly. However, there was a significant difference in initiating time for introduction of supplementary foods between Koreans and Americans. Thus Korean mothers introduced supplementary foods earlier than American counterparts. Furthermore the infant's feeding method among all participants affected the time for introducing supplementary foods significantly. Though attitude of Korean mothers toward breastfeeding was slightly more positive than that of American mothers, the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding in Koreans was much lower than that in Americans. It might be suggested that effective nutrition education program for Korean subjects should be developed to practice breastfeeding from positive attitude and knowledge. It might be also suggested that participation of prenatal nutrition education involving fathers should be encouraged for promotion of rates of initiation and duration of exclusive breastfeeding of mothers.