How infant feeding methods relate to anxiety over child-rearing and feelings toward the child

Abstract

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to elucidate how the respective infant feeding methods, exclusive breast-feeding and mixed/bottle-feeding, relate to anxiety over child-rearing and feelings toward the child.
Subjects and method
Data was collected through a questionnaire survey of 148 postpartum women who visited clinics for a checkup one month after delivery. The survey covered the subjects' backgrounds, their anxiety over child-rearing, Scale of Anxiety over Child-rearing (Makino, 1987) and Scale of Feelings toward the Child (Hanazawa, 2008). PASW Ver17.0 was used for analysis with a significant level of 5%.
Results
Regarding anxiety about child-rearing, women in the exclusive breast-feeding group felt less anxiety than those in the mixed/bottle-feeding group (p<0.001). Where feelings toward the child were concerned, a significant difference was found in the conflict index between the two groups, showing that women in the exclusive breast-feeding group had more positive and receptive feelings toward the child (p=0.039).
Conclusion
Breast-feeding is highly effective for alleviating anxiety over child-rearing and promotes positive and receptive feelings toward the child. Therefore, encouraging breast-feeding is considered desirable.