a study on the relationship between duration of breastfeeding and some maternal and neonatal factors

a study on the relationship between duration of breastfeeding and some maternal and neonatal factors    amirshahi m [1] *,shiri s [2] ,salehin sh [3] ,mohamad rezaei zh [4]     received: 19 feb, 2013 accepted: 25 apr, 2013    abstract   background & aims : breastfeeding has many benefits for mother and preterm infant. identify factors affecting breastfeeding, have an effective role in supporting of its continuation. the aim of this study was to examine the relationship between breastfeeding duration and some of demographic characteristics of mother and preterm infant.   materials & methods : in this survival analysis study, which lasted from may to october 2010, 460 preterm infants who were brought to the infant clinic of tabriz al-zahra hospital were selected by simple random sampling. the data were collected by a questionnaire, and they were analyzed by using statistical software spss.14/win, plotted life table, kaplan- meier curves, and cox- mantel regression model. in this study, p value of less than 0.05 has considered statistically significant.   result : the rate of breastfeeding in one, three, six, 12, 24 and 30 months preterm infants was 87, 59, 42, 13, 2 and 1 percent respectively. relationship between breastfeeding duration with increasing age, delivery history and cesarean delivery was inversely significant. breastfeeding duration in girl infants and in infants with 1500- 2500g birth weight was more meaningful.   conclusion: as the duration of breastfeeding decreased over time, identifying and correcting the underlying factors can lead to a continued breastfeeding resulted in improving nutrition preterm infants, which in turn will reduce the infants’ morbidity and mortality.   keywords: duration, breastfeeding, preterm infant     address: nursing and midwifery faculty, zabol university of medical sciences, zabol, iran   tel : ( +98) 542 2223943, 9394031535   email: [email protected]   [1] m.sc master of science midwifery, instructor, faculty member of zabol university of medical sciences, school of nursing and midwifery, department of midwifery (corresponding author)  [2] graduate student biotechnology tehran of payam noor university, bs urmia university of medical sciences   [3] m.sc master of science midwifery, instructor, faculty member of zabol university of medical sciences, school of nursing and midwifery, department of midwifery.  [4] m.sc master of science midwifery, instructor, faculty member of urmia islamic azad university- urmia branch, school of nursing and midwifery, department of midwifery.