شيوع تغذيه انحصاري با شير مادر و عوامل مرتبط با آن در شيرخواران زاهدان سال 80-79

Breast feeding and its related factors in Zahedan

Background: Breast-feeding during the first 6 months of life has great impact on child health especially in developing countries. The duration of such important period depends on sociocultural status of the society, thus, its related factors should be determined. The present study was carried out to determine the duration of breast-feeding and its related factors in Zahedan in 2000-01. Materials and methods: For this cross sectional study 253 mothers who have child aged 6-24 months and referred to health centers were randomly selected. Initial data were gathered through a face-to-face interview, then, mothersʹ performance regarding breast-feeding during the first 6 months was determined. Role of prenatal education and other related factors was assessed. Results: Results have revealed that 46.3% of mothers were illiterate, 74.7% aged 30 and less, and 7.9% were employed. There were 53.4% girls and 46.6% boys. Of 97.6% started breast-feeding, 44.7% continued till the 6th