Breastfeeding among teenage and adult mothers in Brazil

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of breastfeeding among teenage (younger than 20 years old) and adult mothers of six-month-old children and to identify factors associated with weaning. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of a sample of 237 teenage mothers and 239 adult mothers living in the city of Montes Claros, Brazil, whose babies were six-month-old at the time of the interview was carried out. Mothers answered a questionnaire at home. To assess factors associated with weaning, univariate, Mantel-Haenszel, and multiple logistic regression analyses were performed. RESULTS: Breastfeeding prevalence in children aged 6 months was 71.3% among teenage mothers and 77.4% among adult mothers (crude OR=1.38; p=0.128), but after adjusting for control variables the role of adolescence added considerable weight to weaning. Factors associated with weaning were: marital status, mother's occupation after delivery (both showed interaction with teenage years), difficulty to breastfeeding in the first days after delivery, and exclusive breastfeeding at the time of hospital discharge. CONCLUSIONS: The observed interactions with teenage in regard to weaning suggest that motherhood in this age group has unique features that should be further investigated.