Predictors of Breastfeeding Duration among Women in Kuwait: Results of a Prospective Cohort Study

Nutrients

Manal Dashti¹  Jane A. Scott²  Christine A. Edwards¹ 

[1]Human Nutrition, School of Medicine, College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G31 2ER, UK

[2] E-Mails:

[3]School of Public Health, Curtin University, Perth 6102, Australia

关键词: breastfeeding;    duration;    determinants;    Middle East;   

DOI  :  10.3390/nu6020711

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The purposes of this paper are to report the prevalence of breastfeeding to six months among women in Kuwait and to determine the factors that are associated with the duration of breastfeeding. A cohort of 373 women recruited from maternity wards in four hospitals in Kuwait city were followed from birth to 26 weeks postpartum. The association of any and full breastfeeding duration and predictor variables were explored using multivariate Cox’s proportional hazards models. At six months, 39% of all infants were receiving some breast milk and only 2% of infants had been fully breastfed to 26 weeks. Women born in other Arab countries were less likely to discontinue breastfeeding than women born in Kuwait. Other factors positively associated with breastfeeding duration were level of maternal education, higher parity, infant being demand fed in hospital and a preference for breastfeeding on the part of the infant’s father and maternal grandmother. The introduction of a pacifier before four weeks of age and the mother intending to return to work by six months were negatively associated with duration. These findings present a number of opportunities for prolonging breastfeeding duration in Kuwait.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.