Scottish maternal and infant nutrition survey 2017

Footnotes

1. Scottish Government advice on Vitamin D was updated in November 2017. Prior to this, it was recommended that Vitamin D should be given to infants from six months of age. For further details, see http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0051/00515947.pdf.

2. Multiple births are recorded as only one maternity.

3. Since 1975 hospitals in Scotland have submitted data to NHS NSS Information Services Division on births that take place in a medical facility. A wide range of information is collected including details of the mother's age and obstetric history, information about the birth and its outcome, and information relating to the baby. No information is captured by ISD on home births, but data are available for approximately 99% of all births recorded by National Records of Scotland in the same time period. ^{( R8)}

4. Results for respondents aged 19 or under should be treated with caution due to the small number of respondents in this age group (weighted base = 57; unweighted base = 44).

5. Note that respondents were not always consistent when answering questions about folic acid intake (Q10 and Q12 of the antenatal survey). Throughout this section, responses to Q12 have been used; Q12 is a detailed question specifically about folic acid intake whereas Q10 is a more general question about actions before pregnancy.

6. Results for respondents aged 19 or under should be treated with caution due to the small number of respondents in this age group (weighted base = 57; unweighted base = 44).

7. Respondents to the antenatal survey who had already given birth have been excluded from analyses in this section.

8. Healthy Start vitamins are specifically designed for use in pregnancy. Up until 31 ^st March 2017, women who qualified for the Healthy Start Scheme were entitled to free Healthy Start Vitamins when they became pregnant. From 1 ^st April 2017, the provision of free Healthy Start Vitamins was extended to all pregnant women in Scotland.

9. Note that respondents were not always consistent when answering questions about alcohol intake (Q10 and Q28/Q29 of the antenatal survey). Throughout this section, responses to Q28/Q29 have been used; Q28/Q29 are detailed questions specifically about alcohol intake whereas Q10 is a more general question about actions before pregnancy.

10. Results for respondents aged 19 or under should be treated with caution due to the small number of respondents in this age group (weighted base = 57; unweighted base = 44).

11. The Scottish Woman-Held Maternity Record ( SWHMR) is a single national unified handheld maternity record for women. This record is held by each pregnant woman and is brought along to all antenatal appointments and when the labour begins.

12. Results for respondents aged 19 or under should be treated with caution due to the small number of respondents in this age group (weighted base = 57; unweighted base = 44).

13. Results for respondents aged 19 or under should be treated with caution due to the small number of respondents in this age group (weighted base = 57; unweighted base = 44).

14. Note that all pregnant women are usually given a copy of the NHS Health Scotland booklet entitled "Ready Steady Baby" when they attend for their booking appointment with a midwife.

15. Five percent (5%) of respondents did not provide a response to Q24 (Did a health professional discuss your experiences and thoughts about feeding your new baby with you during your pregnancy?); most of these were mothers who had intended to breastfeed / express milk / mix feed. It is thought that the most likely reason for this non-response is related to the lay-out of the paper questionnaire, rather than a deliberate decision by these respondents not to answer this question.

16. Five percent (5%) of respondent did not answer Q24 (Did a health professional discuss your experiences and thoughts about feeding your new baby with you during your pregnancy?); these respondents have been excluded from this analysis.

17. Five percent (5%) of respondent did not answer Q24 (Did a health professional discuss your experiences and thoughts about feeding your new baby with you during your pregnancy?); these respondents have been excluded from this analysis.

18. There were too few respondents aged 19 or under to produce meaningful results for this group.

19. Note that for one or more of the two postnatal surveys a small number of respondents (<= 50) lived within NHS Borders, NHS Dumfries & Galloway and the island boards. These results should be treated with caution.

20. For the "All respondents" analysis, it has been assumed that respondents who had never given breast milk to their new baby were giving formula milk on leaving hospital / the maternity unit.

21. Note that respondents who had given birth at home were asked to indicate how they were feeding their baby 48 hours after the birth.

22. Although results from the 2010 IFS and this survey are broadly comparable, it should be noted that the methodology and the wording of the related questions were slightly different in each survey.

23. There were too few respondents aged 19 or under to produce meaningful results for this group.

24. Although results from the 2010 IFS and this survey are broadly comparable, it should be noted that the methodology and the wording of the related questions were slightly different in each survey.

25. It was not possible to present results for respondents aged 19 or under; there were too few respondents in this group to produce meaningful results.

26. A small number of respondents did not confirm when their baby was last given breast milk (0.5%); this is why the percentage of respondents still giving breast milk and the percentage of those who had stopped (drop-off) does not always sum to 100%.

27. A small number of respondents did not confirm when their baby was last given breast milk (<0.5%); this is why the percentage of respondents still giving breast milk and the percentage of those who had stopped (drop-off) does not always sum to 100%.

28. Although results from the 2010 IFS and this survey are broadly comparable, it should be noted that the methodology and the wording of the related questions were slightly different in each survey.

29. Note that some respondents had stopped giving breast milk before leaving hospital / before two weeks. Percentages are based on all respondents who had given breast milk at any time and who had experienced a problem at some point.

30. Not cover by Scottish legislation (Breastfeeding etc (Scotland) Act 2005).

31. It is thought that some respondents were unclear about which response option best described their situation. For example, it is likely that some respondents who mix fed their baby ( e.g. gave breast and formula milk) said that their baby had been "fully formula fed from birth".

32. 8% of respondents did not specify if boiled water had been used or how long it had been left to cool; however, several of these respondents spontaneously indicated on their questionnaire that they used a bottle preparation machine rather than a kettle. This may explain why these respondents did not answer this question.

33. Note that the questions in this survey about cleaning and sterilising were only asked in relation to formula feeding, not in relation to expressed breast milk.

34. Note that respondents were not always consistent when answering questions about the use of second / follow-on formula milk. Throughout the rest of section 6.5, responses to Q54 from the 8-12 week survey and Q37 from the 8-12 month survey have been used. Therefore results in this section vary slightly from those presented in section 6.4.

It is thought that some respondent may have been unsure of the differences between infant formula and some other types of formula and this may have lead to inconsistencies in response.

35. Complementary foods are often called solid foods, even when the food has been mashed, pureed or cut into slices.

36. Note that Scottish Government advice on Vitamin D was updated in November 2017. Prior to November 2017, it was recommended that Vitamin D should be given to infants from 6 months of age. For further details, see http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0051/00515947.pdf.