A new paper in the Journal of Pediatrics by a research team led by Deanna Nardella, MD set out to quantify the extent to which pump use is associated with breastfeeding duration. Examining a large, multi-state sample of U.S. women who had initiated breastfeeding between 2016 and 2021, they found that approximately 91% of participants reported ever using a pump to extract breast milk, demonstrating the near ubiquitous practice of pump use among breastfeeding families today. In their predictive model, pump use was associated with nearly 5 months of additional breastfeeding, on average. Moreover, this association was found to have the greatest magnitude among non-Hispanic Black and Native American women, both groups that experience the lowest breastfeeding rates in the U.S.
This study is the first of its kind to examine the relationship between pump use and breastfeeding duration among a large, nationally representative U.S. sample of women. These findings suggest that ensuring access to pumps for U.S. families could help many maintain breastfeeding, supporting more families in reach their personal infant feeding goals and addressing persistent inequities in breastfeeding outcomes between U.S. racial and ethnic groups.
Nardella explained, "This work highlights how common pump use has become among U.S families today, as well as the potential for pumps to protect breastfeeding, particularly among families known to face the most barriers to reaching their infant feeding goals. We hope our findings will be used to support both advocacy and policy efforts to ensure access to quality pumps for U.S. families and future studies to inform evidence-based practices for effective and safe pump use. The latter are key for promoting more equitable breastfeeding outcomes for families and ensuring best medical practice."
For those seeking a deeper dive into the potential for pumps to promote more equitable breastfeeding outcomes for U.S. families, Nardella recently published a perspective piece in the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine.
Sarah Taylor, MD, MSCR, and Mona Sharifi, MD, MPH, from Yale Pediatrics and Maureen Canavan, PhD, MPH, from the Yale Cancer Outcomes, Public Policy and Effectiveness Research Center (COPPER), also took part in this research. Read more in The Journal of Pediatrics.