Background: There are no national data on the prevalence of breastfeeding during pregnancy (BDP) in the world. Also, there is no consensus for the BDP. Aim: The purpose was to determine the prevalence of breastfeeding status in pregnant mothers having children younger than 24 months of age and to evaluate the associated sociodemographic factors and characteristics of the last-born child and current pregnancy through two consecutive national health survey. Methods: Data from the 2012 and 2017 Jordan Family Health and Population Survey were merged. Individual, household, and community-level factors associated with BDP were analyzed by using complex sample multivariate logistic regression. Results: Two surveys enrolled 6,858 women having at least one child younger than 24 months and 8.8% (weighted count: 603) of them got pregnant also. Of the pregnant women, 8.9% continued breastfeeding their last-born children. Being younger than 12 months positively affected breastfeeding compared to last-born child aged 12-23 months. Multivariate analysis revealed that BDP was associated positively with wealth index (richest vs. poorest) and postnatal care for the last-born child within 2 months (presence vs. absence), whereas negatively with bottle use (presence vs. absence), traditional contraceptive methods (abstinence/withdrawn vs. modern, lactational amenorrhea vs. modern), short interpregnancy interval (months), and current pregnancy duration (months) in Jordan. Conclusions: The prevalence for BDP differs according to some maternal, last-born infant, and current pregnancy characteristics. Prospective cohort studies are necessary to evaluate the impact of BDP on "mother, last-child, and future-child," and to detect the duration and prevalence of BDP in different countries.
Keywords: birth order; breastfeeding during pregnancy; pregnancy intervals.