Breastfeeding pattern and its' association with nutritional status and salivary secretory immunoglobulin A level in 3-to 6-month-old infants

Introduction: Breastfeeding pattern is a form of mother's behavior in giving breast milk to her baby. Breast milk supports the growth and development of the baby. The most common immunoglobulin in breast milk is secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA). SIgA levels can be evaluated, one of the ways, from saliva samples examination. The purpose of the research were to determine the breastfeeding pattern and its association with nutritional status and salivary secretory immunoglobulin A level in 3-to 6-month-old infants. Methods: The research with cross sectional design was conducted in Kiara Social Pediatric-Growth and Developmental Polyclinic, Cipto Mangunkusomo Hospital Jakarta. A total of 54 healthy infants subjects aged 36 months old were taken using consecutive sampling method. Descriptive analysis, Chi Square, and Mann-Whitney test were used. P-values <0.05 were considered significant. Results: Our results showed that subjects with normal nutritional status were 85.2%. The median of subjects salivary sIgA level was 56.2 (2.5536.4) g/ml. There was no significant differences regarding to subjects nutritional status between good breastfeeding pattern group and poor breastfeeding pattern group (P> 0.145), and no significant differences regarding to salivary sIgA level between good breastfeeding pattern group and poor breastfeeding pattern group (P> 0.34). Conclusion: Despite its un-significant results, this study showed that normal nutritional status tended to be more prevalent in group with good breastfeeding pattern than in poor breastfeeding pattern. Re-encouragement, socialization, and education to the breastfeeding mothers is needed to improve the good breastfeeding pattern.