title: Breast-feeding Continuation in South-Eastern of Iran: the Associated Factors.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Breast-feeding not only promotes health in an infancy period, but also leads to human vigor and safety at varied life periods viz. adolescence, youth, middle-age, or even adulthood.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The present study was aimed to determine the factors affecting the breast-feeding continuation effectively for a selected region of Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study was performed on 523 women having less than two year old babies from the selected counties covered by the Zahedan University of Medical Sciences (Khash, Saravan, Sarbaz, Chabahar, Zahedan, Nikshahr, Iranshahr, and Konark) using the stratified sampling method. The Data was completed for the target group by using the check-list which included 3 parts: demographic data, case history of pregnancy, childbirth and mother's statue, and previous records of the newborn up to two years. The obtained data were fed into SPSS software, and all parametric and non-parametric statistical methods were used to analyze the data, especially appropriate to the data type.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results showed that the most important factors associated with breast-feeding discontinuation were infant's illness (only up to six months), mother's consciousness, parental support, practical breastfeeding training to the mother, mother's educational level, child's gender, place of birth, pregnancies' interval, mother's ethnicity and residence and the statue of taking (using) narcotics. The data also indicated that on maternal reasons the main factor which impelled most of the mothers to discontinue their breast-feeding up to six months or even before two years was milk shortage in mother's breasts. Moreover, the main child- related factor that compelled most of the mothers for non-continuance of their breast-feeding up to six months or even before two years was child's crying and discomfort.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It can be safely concluded that promotion of parental education, neglecting child's gender as far as cultural context and preference of a son is considered, observance of pregnancy interval for more than three years, non-smoking in nursing mothers, practical training of breast-feeding to mothers besides conductance of educative programs via maternity hospitals and health centers to educate parents about the importance of breast-feeding and benefits of spouse's support can be considered as the influential factors in continuation of breast-feeding.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Deputy, Zahedan University of Medical Science, Zahedan, Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Roostaee
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Deputy, Zahedan University of Medical Science, Zahedan, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Mehdi
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Tabatabaei
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Deputy, Zahedan University of Medical Science, Zahedan, Iran.
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zaboli
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Education, Zahedan University of Medical Science, Zahedan, Iran.
authors.forename: Razieh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Keykhaie
authors.affiliation: Department of Zabol Medicinal Plants Research Center, Zabol University of Medical Sciences, Zabol, Iran ; Department of Pharmacognosy, Zabol University of Medical Sciences, Zabol, Iran.
authors.forename: Javad
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sharifi-Rad
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Deputy, Zahedan University of Medical Science, Zahedan, Iran.
authors.forename: Paridokht
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Shahrak
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Deputy, Zahedan University of Medical Science, Zahedan, Iran.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Soroush
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Breast-feeding continuation; Relevant factors