Japan–France–US comparison of infant weaning from mother’s viewpoint

Figures & data

Table 1. Description of participants.

	Japan	France	US
Number of participants	310	756	222
Infant’s age in months	12.1 (SD = 4.9)	13.0 (SD = 4.6)	11.7 (SD = 4.3)
Mother’s age in years	31.1 (SD = 4.2)	31.4 (SD = 4.6)	31.1 (SD = 5.3)
Mother’s education, junior college or more	167 (53.9%)	541 (71.6%)	161 (72.5%)
Work/study outside the home for more than 5 hours in week	84 (27.1%)	572 (76.5%)	126 (56.8%)
First born infants	197 (63.5%)	444 (58.7%)	76 (34.2%)
Male infants	156 (50.3%)	402 (53.2%)	115 (51.8%)
Medical complications at birth	60 (19.4%)	214 (28.3%)	91 (41.0%)

Figure 1 Percentage of mothers breastfeeding (exclusively or mixed with formula feeding) at each age. Data for the first 4 months were obtained from all samples, and for infants over 4 months, only data from infants at least that age were used.

Table 2. Factor analysis for responses of mothers of three countries about evaluation of breastfeeding and formula feeding.

		Factor
		1	2
Factor of ‘Breast-milk advantage’ (Cronbach alpha = .879)
	Good for child’s health (Breast milk)	0.731
	Good for mother/child relationship (Breast milk)	0.705
	Good for child’s nutrition (Breast milk)	0.683
	Good for child’s motor development (Breast milk)	0.654
	Tasty for child (Breast milk)	0.647
	Safe for child (Breast milk)	0.636
	Sanitary (Breast milk)	0.632
	Economical (Breast milk)	0.604
	Good for child’s intelligence (Breast milk)	0.620
	Good for mother’s health (Breast milk)	0.596
	Convenient (Breast milk)	0.572
Factor of ‘formula advantage’ (Cronbach alpha = .844)
	Good for child’s health (Formula)		0.726
	Good for child’s motor development (Formula)		0.685
	Safe for child (Formula)		0.639
	Good for mother/child relationship (Formula)		0.626
	Sanitary (Formula)		0.627
	Good for child’s intelligence (Formula)		0.587
	Tasty for child (Formula)		0.557
	Good for child’s nutrition (Formula)		0.566
	Good for mother’s health (Formula)		0.540
	Convenient (Formula)		0.483
	Cumulative percent of variance	23.31	41.60

Table 3. Mothers’ perception about their own child-care.

	Mean of 4-point rating scores
Fisher’s LSD	Japan	France	US	Items
Japan > France > US	2.11	1.85	1.64	I feel as if I were separate from the world because of child-rearing responsibilities.
	2.11	1.79	1.29	I doubt my suitability as a mother.
Japan > France = US	3.26	3.03	2.97	My child and I are equal as persons.
	1.18	1.05	1.02	I wish I had not had a child.
US > France > Japan	3.21	3.34	3.66	I try to meet my child’s demands.
France = US > Japan	3.56	3.90	3.95	I like being a mother.
	2.62	2.98	2.94	The child’s happiness depends on the mother.
	2.50	2.62	2.69	It is because the mother loves the child that she disciplines him/her strictly.
(US > France) = Japan	3.04	2.94	3.17	I feel my life worth living because of my motherhood.
France > Japan > US	1.93	3.12	1.65	It is burdensome to raise a child.
>, significantly different; =, n.s.

Table 4. Percentages of most important reasons for stopping breastfeeding during the first year (%).

	JAPAN			FRANCE			US
	1-4 mo	5-8 mo	9-12 mo	1-4 mo	5-8 mo	9-12 mo	1-4 mo	5-8 mo	9-12 mo
Not enough breast-milk	50.6	44.4	16.2	23.5	10.6	21.2	20.0	30.4	21.4
Advice of own mother	7.6	5.6	8.1	7.6	10.0	3.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Back to work	7.6	8.3	13.5	22.3	39.4	21.2	13.3	17.4	3.6
Child’s refusal or disinterest to be breastfed	6.3	8.3	18.9	1.9	5.0	3.0	6.7	13.0	28.6
Use of medicine	6.3	8.3	5.4	1.9	1.9	0.0	10.0	0.0	0.0
Because of child’s illness	3.8	0.0	0.0	2.3	1.9	0.0	0.0	4.3	3.6
New pregnancy	3.8	0.0	5.4	0.0	0.6	0.0	10.0	0.0	0.0
Fatigue	2.5	2.8	0.0	10.2	3.1	3.0	13.3	4.3	0.0
So the child gets used to other food	2.5	2.8	2.7	1.9	2.5	3.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Age of child	1.3	5.6	13.5	1.5	9.4	30.3	3.3	21.7	32.1
Because of smoking	1.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Because the child wasn’t gaining enough weight	1.3	0.0	0.0	7.6	3.8	0.0	10.0	0.0	0.0
Discomfort or pain from breastfeeding	1.3	5.6	2.7	8.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	3.6
Doctor’s advice	1.3	0.0	0.0	1.5	1.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Advice of child’s father	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.5	3.1	6.1	0.0	0.0	0.0
Because I wanted to enjoy my social life	0.0	2.8	0.0	0.4	0.6	0.0	3.3	0.0	3.6
Frequent demand of the child to be breastfed	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Poor quality of breast milk	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.3	3.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
To avoid breastfeeding in front of others	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.8	0.6	0.0	3.3	0.0	0.0
Other reason	2.5	5.6	13.5	5.7	5.0	6.1	6.7	8.7	3.6
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

Figure 2 Characteristics of mothers who mentioned insufficiency as the most important reason.