title: Breastfeeding duration: a survival analysis-data from a regional immunization survey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To report the duration of and factors associated with exclusive and any breastfeeding among the French-speaking community of Belgium (Wallonia).
  
  
  METHODS
  A two-stage cluster sample was drawn from the population of children aged 18-24 months living in the area in 2012. Anamnestic data on breastfeeding and sociodemographic information were collected from 525 mothers. Cox's proportional hazards model was used to identify factors associated with discontinuing breastfeeding.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Only 35.1% of the women were satisfied with their duration of any breastfeeding. At 3 months, 54.1% of the infants were breastfed, of which 40.6% exclusively, with these percentages falling to 29.1% and 12.6% at 6 months. Exclusive and any breastfeeding durations were independently positively associated (P < 0.05) with foreign-born mothers, awareness of WHO recommendations, and maternity leave >3 months. Exclusive BF duration was associated with higher parental income and the prenatal decision to breastfeed. The duration of any breastfeeding was associated with the mothers' age of ≥30 years and whether they were exclusively breastfeeding at discharge from the maternity unit.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Programs promoting and supporting BF should concentrate on training prenatal health-care professionals. Prenatal professional advice may promote adherence to WHO BF guidelines. The benefits of exclusive BF should be emphasized. Pregnant women should be discouraged from introducing supplementary feeding in the maternity ward.
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Health Policy and Systems-International Health, School of Public Health, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Route de Lennik 808, 1070 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Robert
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Clinical Research, School of Public Health, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Route de Lennik 808, 1070 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Coppieters
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Health Policy and Systems-International Health, School of Public Health, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Route de Lennik 808, 1070 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Swennen
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Clinical Research, School of Public Health, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Route de Lennik 808, 1070 Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dramaix
mesh_terms: D001530:Belgium; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000379:methods*; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007115:Immunization Schedule; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009035:Mothers; D011247:Pregnancy; D016019:Survival Analysis