Are Mothers Certain About Their Perceptions of Recalled Infant Feeding History?

Introduction: Maternal recall of infant feeding, a potential measurement bias, is used to identify the relationship between mothers' own milk (MOM) feeding and subsequent health outcomes. This study describes maternal recall certainty of MOM feedings at four time periods. Method: In this secondary analysis, mothers of children ages 4-36 months describe infants' MOM feeding and rate certainty of their recall. Results: MOM was the first feeding for 78.5% of infants and received by 83% the first week, 85% the first month, and 62% the fourth month. Ratings of recall certainty were > 95% for each time period. Recall certainty was significantly different for four time periods (chi(2) = 9.67, p = 0.02), with no two periods significantly different in post hoc analyses. Discussion: Maternal recall certainty of infant feeding was high regardless of elapsed time. Measuring maternal recall certainty may be useful in clinical practice and studies linking MOM exposure to subsequent health outcomes.