Abstract

Breastfeeding has too much benefit to mothers and their preterm infants it is very important to continue it at least 6 month of their age. Some deal factors such as mothers' concern about inadequate milk supply, the weak infants' sucking etc, affect the discontinuation of breastfeeding in the preterm infants. In this survival analysis, 460 preterm infant who were returned to hospital by their mothers and were qualified objects, were selected based on simple-random sampling. The data was collected through questionnaires and check lists and analyzed through Descriptive statistical methods, Life-Tables and Gehan test. The continuation of breastfeeding in 1, 3, 6, 12, 24 and 29 months old preterm infants were 87, 59, 42, 13, 2 and 1. Consequently, mothers' concern about inadequate milk supply, weak sucking infant were the major reasons for stopping breastfeeding. There was a significant statistical relationship between the continuation of breastfeeding and mother's age and kind of delivery. The study showed the continuation of breastfeeding decreased by increasing age of preterm infant. © Medwell Journals, 2008.