Estimating the duration of full breastfeeding with survival analysis procedure

Background: Full breastfeeding refers to exclusive breastfeeding, which is the practice of feeding only breast milk excluding water, breast milk substitutes, other liquids and solid foods. `Full breastfeeding for the first six months is the most appropriate infant feeding practice. The duration of full breastfeeding varies considerably among women belonging to different sections of the population. Objective: To estimate the probabilities at various time intervals for the duration of full breastfeeding. Study Design: A group of 102 women who were interviewed at immunization centre in Varanasi in 2004, where they came with their youngest child for vaccination. Women reporting continuance of full breastfeeding (31 %) on the date of interview were considered as censored cases. Survival analysis procedure using life table approach was applied. Result: The median duration of full breastfeeding was found 5.53 months: Relationship between duration of full breastfeeding and practice of breastfeeding (at fixed time or on demand) was also studied. The mean and median duration of full breastfeeding were observed higher in women feeding at fixed time than those on demand of the child, though by log-rank test the difference was found not statistically significant. Conclusions : The observed data do not provide sufficient evidence to establish a relationship between duration of full breast feeding and practice of breastfeeding