The impact of socio－demographic factors on duration of breastfeeding in rural Jiangsu，China

Ｔｈｅｉｍｐａｃｔｏｆｓｏｃｉｏ－ｄｅｍｏｇｒａｐｈｉｃｆａｃｔｏｒｓｏｎｄｕｒａｔｉｏｎｏｆｂｒｅａｓｔｆｅｅｄｉｎｇｉｎｒｕｒａｌＪｉａｎｇｓｕ，ＣｈｉｎａＺｈａｎｇＬｉｙｉｎｇ（张立英）．ＬｉｕＹｕｎｒｏｎｇ（刘云荣），ＺｈａｎｇＺｈｕｏｍｉｎ...

bjective:To identify the social and demographic factors influencing the duration of breastfeeding.Design:A survey of women in reproductive age.Setting:Rural Jiangsu province.Subjects:Ever-married women aged 15-49 years old.Main outcome Measure:Median duration of breastfeeding.Methods:Life-table method and Proportional Hazard Model.Rcsults:Longer duration of breastfeeding was observed in lower socio-economic status and lowereducation groups.Sex disparity in duration of breastfeeding was observed in the central and north of theprovince which are less developed than the. other two regions. Children delivered at hospitals werebreastfed for shorter periods than those delivered at home.Conclusions:Findings of the. study suggest that maternal and child health care as well as familylilanning program should continue to encourage and supper women prolonging breastfeeding both forimproving mother and child’s health and for fertility regulation.