Factors associated with exclusive breastfeeding among infants under six months of age in peninsular malaysia

This was a cross-sectional study involving 682 mother-infant pairs with infants up to six months attending maternal and child health section of the government health clinics in Klang, Malaysia. Data were collected by face-to-face interviews using a pre-tested structured questionnaire over 4 months in 2006. Data on breastfeeding were based on practice in the previous one month period. Logistic regression was used to assess the independent association between the independent variables and exclusive breastfeeding adjusting for infant age.The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding among mothers with infants aged between one and six months was 43.1% (95% CI: 39.4, 46.8). In the multivariate model exclusive breastfeeding was positively associated with rural residence, Malay mothers, non-working and non-smoking mothers, multiparous mothers, term infants, mothers with husbands who support breastfeeding and mothers who practice bed-sharing.Interventions that seek to increase exclusive breastfeeding should focus on women who are at risk of early discontinuation of breastfeeding.Over the past decade, the government of Malaysia has recognized the significance of breastfeeding and infant nutrition. The National Breastfeeding Policy was formulated in 1993 and revised in 2005 in accordance with the World Health Assembly Resolution 54.2 (2001) whereby exclusive breastfeeding was recommended for the first six months of life as a public health measure and thereafter continued up to two years of age and beyond with timely, adequate and safe complementary foods [1]. According to Malaysia Third National Health and Morbidity Survey 2006 (NHMS III), the prevalence of infants who initiated breastfeeding within one hour of birth was 63.7% (95% CI: 61.4, 65.9) while the prevalence among children less than 12 years ever breastfed was 94.7% (95% CI: 93.0, 95.9) [2]. The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding up to four months and six months were 19.3% (95% CI: 15.5, 23.9) and 14.5% (95% CI: 11.7