Feeding status and related factors among infants in Changzhou city

ObjectiveTo explore feeding status and related factors among infants in Changzhou city,Jiangsu province.MethodsWe used a cross sectional study with the subjects randomly selected from cities,towns and villages.Totally 6240 babies born from Jan 1,2006 to Dec 31,2008 and their parents were enrolled in the survey.Multifactor multinomial logistic regression was used to analyze the related factors and to evaluate odds ratios(ORs)and 95% confidence interval(95%CI).ResultsThe ratio of exclusive breastfeeding(EBF)was 50.64% with partial breastfeeding(PBF)of 38.62% and bottle feeding(BF)ratio of 10.74%.The ratios of EBF up to 4 and 6 monthswere 56.4% and 29.3%.The results of multifactor multinomial logistic regression showed that factors associated with PBF were birth place being town and village,mothers' education of college or upper,family with multiple children,mothers'age bewteen 25-35 years,premature of the infant, and the place of childbirth being town ship hospital(P<0.05 for all)and the factors associated with BF were the birth palce being town and village,mothers' education of senior middle school or upper,family with multiple children,mothers'age older than 33 years,premature of the infant, and the place of childbirth being township hospital.ConclusionBreastfeeding rate in Changzhou city is low and 6 months EBF rate is significantly low.Feeding status is associated with birth place of the infant, mothers' education and age,premature of infant, and family with multiple children.