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

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

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).

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.