title: Predictors of breastfeeding duration among women in Kuwait: results of a prospective cohort study.
abstract: The purposes of this paper are to report the prevalence of breastfeeding to six months among women in Kuwait and to determine the factors that are associated with the duration of breastfeeding. A cohort of 373 women recruited from maternity wards in four hospitals in Kuwait city were followed from birth to 26 weeks postpartum. The association of any and full breastfeeding duration and predictor variables were explored using multivariate Cox's proportional hazards models. At six months, 39% of all infants were receiving some breast milk and only 2% of infants had been fully breastfed to 26 weeks. Women born in other Arab countries were less likely to discontinue breastfeeding than women born in Kuwait. Other factors positively associated with breastfeeding duration were level of maternal education, higher parity, infant being demand fed in hospital and a preference for breastfeeding on the part of the infant's father and maternal grandmother. The introduction of a pacifier before four weeks of age and the mother intending to return to work by six months were negatively associated with duration. These findings present a number of opportunities for prolonging breastfeeding duration in Kuwait.
authors.affiliation: Human Nutrition, School of Medicine, College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G31 2ER, UK. manaldashti@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Manal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dashti
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Curtin University, Perth 6102, Australia. jane.scott@curtin.edu.au.
authors.forename: Jane A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.affiliation: Human Nutrition, School of Medicine, College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G31 2ER, UK. christine.edwards@glasgow.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Christine A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Kuwait University, Safat 13060, Kuwait. mona.alsughayer@ku.edu.kw.
authors.forename: Mona
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Al-Sughayer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007730:Kuwait; D009035:Mothers; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D049590:Postpartum Period; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors