Status quo and influencing factors of breastfeeding among infants aged 6-month and elder in Dalian municipality

Objective To examine the status and influencing factors of breastfeeding among infants at the age of 6-month and older in Dalian city of Liaoning province for making effective intervention programs to promote exclusive breastfeeding.Methods A total of 1 030 infants were selected from the physical check-up dataset of 32 466 infants aged 6-month and older registered in 15 counties or districts of Dalian municipality in 2015 with stratified random cluster sampling and a self-administered questionnaire survey on breastfeeding was conducted among the parents of the infants recruited.Results The rate of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding were 91.20% and 55.79% for the infants surveyed.The main reason for the infants with partial breastfeeding was insufficient maternal milk and major reasons for the infants with formula feeding were no maternal milk and the working condition preventing their mothers to conduct breastfeeding.The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the mothers giving a birth to a boy,having early lactation,and with natural delivery were more likely to perform exclusive breastfeeding,with the odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval 95%CI) of 1.36 (1.10-1.86),1.16 (1.00-1.75),1.46 (1.07-1.99) (P<0.05 for all);while the mothers being employed,having the education of senior high school,and without rooming-in after the delivery were less likely to conduct breastfeeding,with the OR (95%CI) of 0.65 (0.68-0.99),0.55 (0.35-0.88),and 0.35 (0.10-0.81),respectively (P<0.05 for all).The major sources of breastfeeding knowledge were books and internet information for the infants' parents.Conclusion The status of breastfeeding is good among the infants in Dalian municipality and low cesarean delivery rate,early lactation,rooming-in after delivery,and effective health education can promote the mothers performing breastfeeding.