Early introduction of solid foods and tiny tastings shortens the duration of breastfeeding

Background: Since 2011, the National Food Agency in Sweden has informed parents that they can introduce tiny tastings (1 mL of solid food, i.e., other sources of nutrition than breastmilk/formula) to infants from four months of age. It is unknown how national recommendations, which differ from the Word Health Organization’s recommendation, affect breastfeeding. We hypothesized that introduction of tiny tastings of solid foods would shorten the duration of partial breastfeeding. Methods: This retrospective study utilizes data from the longitudinal ‘Swedish Pregnancy Planning Study’ in which mothers were recruited at antenatal clinics and answered three questionnaires up to one year after birth (n=1,251). Linear regression models were used to analyze the association between the introduction of solid foods and the duration of breastfeeding. Results: The main findings of this study were that half of all infants (48%) were fed with tiny tastings already in the fourth month, and correlation analysis showed that the earlier the infants started with tiny tastings , the earlier they ate larger amounts of solid food. In a multivariate linear regression analysis, five factors were identified as having a negative effect on the duration of breastfeeding: low infant age at the introduction of tiny tastings , low maternal age, low level of maternal education, high maternal BMI, and twin birth. Conclusions: Early introduction of tiny tastings of solid foods shortened the duration of breastfeeding.