Chapter 3. Infant Feeding

Table 3.49. Percent of mothers indicating each reason for feeding their baby formula by infant age1,2, among mothers who were currently feeding their infant both breast milk and formula

Infant Feeding Practices Study II

Reason for feeding formula Month 2 Month 5 Month 7
My baby had trouble sucking or latching on 13.3 6.8 4.7
My baby became sick and could not breastfeed 7.3 3.8 3.4
My baby lost interest in nursing or began to wean him or herself 7.9 11.0 12.7
My baby was old enough that the difference between breast milk and formula no longer mattered 8.1 10.0 15.0
Breast milk alone did not satisfy my baby 49.0 41.9 41.7
I thought that my baby was not gaining enough weight 18.1 13.2 12.4
A health professional said my baby was not gaining enough weight 16.2 10.6 11.0
I didn't have enough milk 44.2 40.6 39.0
My nipples were sore, cracked, or bleeding 16.4 6.5 9.4
My breasts were infected or abscessed 5.8 2.6 3.0
Breastfeeding was too painful 9.5 3.0 5.1
Breastfeeding was too tiring 9.1 7.3 6.8
I was sick or had to take medicine 8.1 6.5 5.9
Breastfeeding was too inconvenient 16.1 13.3 17.8
I wanted to be able to leave my baby for several hours at a time 39.8 45.9 51.3
I could not or did not want to pump or breastfeed at work 11.4 16.4 17.0
Pumping milk no longer seemed worth the effort that it required 8.5 11.6 18.5
I was not present to feed my baby for reasons other than work 33.7 25.4 28.9
I wanted or needed someone else to feed my baby 46.3 48.4 54.9
Someone else wanted to feed the baby 32.4 25.0 21.5
I did not want to breastfeed in public 28.2 22.7 17.0
N 518 337 236

1Table is based on variables: M2D13A-U, M5D12A-U, M7D12A-U
2Column percentages do not add up to 100% because mothers could choose all that apply