Journal of North Khorasan

Abstract Background and Objectives: major portion of mental and physical development occurs in the first two years of life. Considering the importance of breast feeding and the vital effect of breast milk on the development of children, the aim of this study was to investigate various effective factors on duration of suckling in 24-month-old children in 2010, in the city of Farooj, North Khorasan, Iran. Material and Methods: In this descriptive-analytic study, 250 nursing mothers who feed their childeran with breast milk for 2 years were selected, using simple random and stratified sampling methods. Data were collected using questionnaires and medical records available in health centers. Data were analyzed using SPSS 16 software using survival analysis with Cox Regression model. Results: The median of breast feeding duration for children in the preset study was about 22 months the probability of weaning at 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months was 0.80, 0.20, 0.30, 0.80, 0.126, and 0.875 respectively. The most important determing for duration of breast feeding factor was the mother’s employment status (OR= 2.32 and CI: 1.01-4.97). Conclusion: the results of presnt study showed that emploloymet of women is on important factor which affects the duration of breast feeding.