Gender (sex) information is standard demographic information collected in
all surveillance of breastfeeding, at least within the United States and
within all surveillance through WHO, I can't speak for other organizations.
One of the reasons it is rarely reported in publication form is that does
not shown up as statistically significant and publishers are very unhappy
when authors include what they (publishers) consider extraneous information
due to space constraints.
One thought as to why no difference appears was exemplified by Toby Gish's
LLL meeting example. While one mother may have concerns about nursing a
baby of one sex for one reason, another mother may have equally personally
compelling concerns about nursing a baby of the other sex. From a
population and epidemiologic perspective this would show up as infant sex
not playing a role. From a clinical perspective it could, however, be a
very important issue for a given mother.
One article which does report sex information in published form is the
following - it shows no statistically significant differences between
breastfeeding characteristics of male versus female infants, however some
statistically significant differences do appear among males of different
ethnic groups and females of different ethnic groups.
Li R, Grummer-Strawn L. Racial and ethnic disparities in breastfeeding among
United States Infants: Third National Health and Nutrition Examination
Survey, 1988-1994. Birth, 2002 29(4) 251-257.
Breastfeeding Initiation:
Only statistically significant gender differences were found within sex,
between ethnic groups - White versus Black males, White versus Black
females, and White versus Mexican American males. No significant
differences were found between sex within ethnic group.
Ethnic group - sex - initiation percent:
Non-Hispanic White - male - 60.4%
Non-Hispanic White - female - 60.3%
Non-Hispanic Black - male - 24.4%
Non-Hispanic White - female - 26.7%
Mexican American - male - 53.8%
Mexican American - female - 54.9%
Absolute Difference (%, Standard Error):
White versus Black - male - (35.9, 2.9)**p<0.01
White versus Mexican American - male (6.6, 2.8)*p<0.05
White versus Black - female - (33.7, 2.6)**p<0.01
White versus Mexican American - female - (5.4, 3.4)
Children Exclusively Breastfed at 4 Months:
Statistically significant difference between ethnic group, within sex for
both Black and White male and female, none between sex within ethnic group.
Ethnic group - sex - 4 mo percent:
Non-Hispanic White - male - 22.3%
Non-Hispanic White - female - 23.0%
Non-Hispanic Black - male - 7.0%
Non-Hispanic White - female - 10.0%
Mexican American - male - 20.7%
Mexican American - female - 20.0%
Absolute Difference (%, Standard Error):
White versus Black - male - (15.3, 2.6)**p<0.01
White versus Mexican American - male (1.5, 1.8)
White versus Black - female - (12.9, 3.0)**p<0.01
White versus Mexican American - female - (3.0, 2.1)
Children Who Received Any Breastmilk at 6 Months:
The same statistical significance was found as for initiation, none between
sex within ethnic group.
Ethnic group - gender - 6 mo percent:
Non-Hispanic White - male - 27.6%
Non-Hispanic White - female - 26.1%
Non-Hispanic Black - male - 8.5%
Non-Hispanic White - female - 8.6%
Mexican American - male - 22.3%
Mexican American - female - 24.0%
Absolute Difference (%, Standard Error):
White versus Black - male - (19.1, 2.6)**p<0.01
White versus Mexican American - male (5.2, 2.6)*p<0.05
White versus Black - female - (17.5, 2.1)*p<0.05
White versus Mexican American - female - (2.1, 2.7)
---------------------------
Katherine Shealy
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