Previous breastfeeding experience and its influence on breastfeeding outcomes in subsequent births: A systematic review.

PROBLEM: Despite widely recognized benefits of breastfeeding, the worldwide rate of six months exclusive breastfeeding has not up to the WHO recommendation. Multiparas are considered more likely to initiate breastfeeding and breastfeed much longer. This, however, is not always the case if they have unsuccessful previous breastfeeding experience. Therefore, whether and how previous breastfeeding experience affect subsequent breastfeeding outcomes need to be explored sufficiently.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this review is to summarize the evidence of association between previous breastfeeding experience and subsequent breastfeeding outcomes.

METHODS: A systematic search of Embase, Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane Library and CINAHL databases from inception to March, 2018 is conducted for cohort studies regarding "previous breastfeeding experience" as an influencing factor to subsequent breastfeeding initiation and duration. A narrative synthesis is used in this review according to PRISMA and study quality is assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale.

FINDINGS: Fifteen articles were eligible for this review. Previous breastfeeding experience was consistently correlated with subsequent breastfeeding initiation and duration. However, previous short breastfeeding duration and unsatisfactory experience negatively affected subsequent breastfeeding.

CONCLUSIONS: Robust evidence for the effect of previous breastfeeding experience on subsequent breastfeeding is present. Midwives and breastfeeding/lactation consultants need to provide customized interventions for mothers according to detailed previous breastfeeding experience in order to improve breastfeeding initiation and breastfeeding duration.