Author(s)

Fatemeh Nayeri¹, Mamak Shariat¹, Hosein Dalili^2*, Farima Raji², Akram Karimi²

¹Maternal, Fetal and Neonatal Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
²Breast Feeding Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

The aim of this study was to assess the Breastfeeding status among children aged 21 - 27 moths. A cross sectional study was carried out in South Health Center (Tehran-Iran) in 2010. Four hundred 21 - 27 month breastfed infants entered the study. This study compared some variables in 2 groups; weaning before and after 22 months. The level of significance was considered P < 0.05. Mean breastfeeding duration and median (either exclusive or combined) were 19.66 ± 6.40 and 22 months. Among all reasons were cited by mothers, some reasons like insufficient breast milk supply (77.9%), infant restless (77.1%), and Mother’s reluctance (75.6%) were the most common causes of exclusive breastfeeding cessation. A significant relation was seen between breastfeeding duration and gestational age or birth trauma (P Value = 0.031, P Value = 0.04). Breastfeeding training and First mother-infant skin to skin contact had significant roles on breastfeeding duration (P Value < 0.05, P Value = 0.001, respectively). It seems lots of public health efforts and policy are needed to improve breastfeeding rate in our country.

Infant, Breastfeeding Rate, Iran

Nayeri, F. , Shariat, M. , Dalili, H. , Raji, F. and Karimi, A. (2015) Breastfeeding Status and Effective Factors in 21 - 27 Months Iranian Infants. Open Journal of Pediatrics, 5, 156-163. doi: 10.4236/ojped.2015.52024.