Factors associated with early weaning at a Child-Friendly Healthcare Initiative Hospitall

purpose: considering the benefits of breastfeeding on children's health, the aim of the present study was to determine factors associated with early weaning among children at a child-friendly healthcare initiative (cfhi) children's hospital in the city of campina grande, state of paraíba, brazil. methods: an analytical, cross-sectional study was carried out involving 800 mothers of children between 0 and 24 months of age at the elpídio de almeida health institute. a semi-structured questionnaire was administered and contained questions on socio-demographic characteristics, eating habits and nonnutritive sucking habits. the chi-square test and fisher's exact test were employed for statistical analysis. a multivariate analysis was performed with variables that achieved a p-value < 0.25 in the bivariate analysis. results: the prevalence of early weaning was 13.5%. in the bivariate analysis, the factors associated with early weaning were income (p=0.001), child's birth weight (p=0.016), bottle feeding (p=0.003) and pacifier use (p<0.001). in the multivariate analysis, pacifier use remained significantly associated with early weaning (or: 3.23; 95% ci: 1.871 to 5.591; p<0.001). conclusion: pacifier use was associated with early weaning, even when mothers were advised to avoid this habit.