Investigation of decreasing causes of exclusive breastfeeding in children below six months old, in Kerman city during 2008- 2009

Background & Objective: Breastfeeding is an important principle in pediatric health. It decreases their mortality and protect them from diseases in the first sixth months of life. It`s necessary to investigate the decreasing causes of exclusive Breastfeeding. Methods & Materials: This cross-sectional survey was about 320 mothers who had babies within one year old. They`ve gone to consulting centers for lactation in Kerman city. Information gathered by a questionnaire. It consisted of demographic information of mother and child, start time of Breastfeeding, age of starting, type of complementary feeding and usage causes of that before six months. The data's analyzed by SPSS software. Results: The findings showed that just 1.6% of babies have had exclusive Breastfeeding until end of the first 6 months.60.3% of mothers have started complementary feeding for their babies under one month old. Average of Starting age was p=1.98±1.5. The most common type was Formula (99.7 %). The most important reason for complementary feeding was inadequate milk of mothers (92.7%), 72.1% was due to doctor`s recommendations .68.5% of mothers believed that child crying was due to their milk insufficiency. There was a statistically significant relation between type of labor and starting age of complementary feeding (P = 0.016). Conclusion: The most important factor in early interruption of exclusive Breastfeeding was wrong belief of mothers. They didn`t know mother`s milk adequacy symptoms and the other reason was doctor`s suggestions.