Baseline characteristics of the cohort
| Whole cohort (n=132) | |
| Ethnic group; n (%) | |
| Asian or Asian British | 22 (18.3) |
| Black, African, Black British or Caribbean | 21 (17.5) |
| Other | 5 (4.2) |
| White | 72 (60.0) |
| Prefer not to say/missing | 12 |
| Maternal age at randomisation in years; mean (SD) | 32.8 (6.3) |
| Index of Multiple Deprivation Quintile; n (%) | |
| 1 (most deprived) | 24 (18.3) |
| 2 | 26 (19.8) |
| 3 | 22 (16.8) |
| 4 | 31 (23.7) |
| 5 (least deprived) | 28 (21.4) |
| Missing | 1 |
| Age when left full-time education; n (%) | |
| 16 years old or less | 14 (11.7) |
| 17 or 18 years old | 24 (20.0) |
| 19 years old or more | 82 (68.3) |
| Prefer not to say/missing | 12 |
| Lives with a partner; n (%) | 108 (89.3) |
| Missing | 11 |
| Smoking at birth; n (%) | 8 (6.6) |
| Missing | 11 |
| Baseline intention to exclusively human milk feed at discharge; n (%) | 85 (70.2) |
| Missing | 11 |
| Mode of birth; n (%) | |
| Vaginal | 57 (43.2) |
| Caesarean | 75 (56.8) |
| Multiple pregnancy; n (%) | 20 (15.2) |
| Primiparous; n (%) | 74 (59.7) |
| Missing | 8 |
| Multipara only, N | 50 |
| Previous human milk feeding experience; n (%) | |
| None | 5 (10.2) |
| <6 months | 18 (36.7) |
| ≥6 months | 26 (53.1) |
| Missing | 1 |
| Infant born in a recruiting centre (at least one if twins); n (%) | 123 (93.2) |
| Infant gestational age at birth; n (%) | |
| 23 to <26 weeks | 34 (25.8) |
| 26 to <28 weeks | 37 (28.0) |
| 28 to <30 weeks | 29 (22.0) |
| 30 to <32 weeks | 32 (24.2) |
| Infant’s Apgar score at 5 min (lowest score if twins); median (IQR) | 8.5 (7–10) |
| Missing | 6 |
| Infant ventilated at randomisation (either infant if twins); n (%) | 47 (35.6) |