Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-8-2025
Abstract
Objective: To describe breastfeeding behaviors and determinants in the 1-month postdelivery period among women in treatment for opioid use disorder.
Study Design: Participants completed one questionnaire during pregnancy and one questionnaire at 1 month postpartum. Those who reported on the postpartum questionnaire that they had initiated breast- feeding were included in this analysis (N = 31). Infant feeding practices, receipt of lactation support, and demographic, psychosocial, and infant birth characteristics were compared between those who breastfed for at least 1 month and those who did not.
Results: In all, 45% of the participants were breastfeeding at 1 month post delivery. Among those who dis- continued breastfeeding by 1 month post delivery, two-thirds reported that they had not breastfed for as long as they wanted. Breastfeeding continuation at 1 month was more common in participants who expressed prenatal breastfeeding intention, had shorter infant hospital length of stays, received lactation materials/support, and reported lower stress and depressive symptoms. Among those who stopped breast- feeding at 1 month, perception of low breast milk supply was the most frequently cited reason.
Conclusions: Lactation support programs are needed to help women with opioid use disorder meet their infant feeding goals. Such programs may want to consider simultaneously addressing maternal psychosocial factors.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Eisenberg, Julia; Gannon, Meghan; McLaughlin, Kim; Abatemarco, Diane J.; and Short, Vanessa L., "Breastfeeding Continuation at One Month Postpartum Among Women in Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder Who Initiated Breastfeeding: Prevalence and Determinants" (2025). Abington Jefferson Health Papers. Paper 132.
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/abingtonfp/132
Comments
This article is the author's final published version in Women's Health Reports, Volume 6.1, July 2025, Pages 723-730.
The published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1177/26884844251364705. Copyright © the Author(s) 2025. Published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. This Open Access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License [CC-BY] (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.