Skip to main content
Download PDF

Early cessation of breastfeeding and the associated factors among mothers with children aged 2 to 3 years in rural Southern Ethiopia: a community-based cross-sectional study

BMC Nutrition volume 9, Article number: 22 (2023) Cite this article

Abstract

Background

Breast milk is the first natural food for babies. It has nutritional, immunological, developmental, psychological, societal and environmental advantages. Failing to feed children for twenty-four months has so many negative consequences to children. Though studies have well documented the duration of breast feeding in the first six months, the proportion of women completing the recommended duration and factors associated with it has not been well investigated in rural places of Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aims to fill this gap in evidence among mothers with children aged 2 to 3 years in Arba Minch Health and Demographic Surveillance Site in 2021 E.C.

Methods

A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in all kebeles of the surveillance site by employing multi-stage sampling technique. Descriptive statistics was done to summarize findings and binary logistics regression model was used to identify factors significantly associated with early breast-feeding cessation respectively. OR with its 95% CI was obtained to quantify the degree of association between explanatory variables and early breastfeeding cessation.

Result

The proportion of early cessations of breast feeding was 29.30% (25.02, 33.64%). Being from a household with no fathers ‘education or primary education [AOR=0.22; 95%CI (0.07, 0.74)] and [AOR=0.30; 95%CI (0.12, 0.76)], farmer mothers [AOR=6.40; 95%CI: (1.38, 29.74)], birth interval of less than 2 years [AOR=2.07; 95%CI: (1.03, 4.16)], and with mothers’ one or two to three antenatal care visits [AOR = 2.73; 95%CI: (1.27,5.88)] were factors significantly associated with early cessations of breast feeding.

Conclusion and recommendation

The proportion of early cessations of breast feeding was high. Father’s education, being farmer, birth interval and ante natal care visit were significant factors. Health education about proper breast feeding practice and improving ante natal care attendance might improve premature cessation of breast feeding among women.

Peer Review reports

Introduction

As a natural first food for babies, breast milk provides all the energy and nutrients that the infant needs for the first months of his life. Breast milk continues to provide up to half or more of a child’s nutritional states during the second half of the first year, and up to one-third during the second year of life [1]. Breastfeeding is the base for good nutrition, prevent, and protect children against disease. Thus, breastfeeding is the best for all children to grow and develop to their full potential [2]. Malnourishment in early years of life was mainly due to poor breast-feeding practice. During the second year of life, breast milk remains a source of vitamin A, proteins and other micronutrients that are unavailable in the usual supplementary diet, especially in low-income countries, in which breast milk can provide an average of 35 to 40% of the total energy requirements [3]. Recently, the world health organization (WHO) estimated that more than 820,000 lives of children below 5 years are lost yearly because of failing to feed children 0–23 months. Regarding its benefits in specific terms, breast feeding improves Intelligence Quotient (IQ), school attendance, child development and reduces health costs, and subsequently leads economic gains for the an individual family and a nation broadly [4].

Optimal breastfeeding of infants under two years of age greatly improves child survival in comparison to all other preventive interventions. With universal breast-feeding, 823,000 child deaths, and 20,000 maternal deaths could be averted each year, along with economic savings of US $300 billion. Likewise, breast-feeding has benefits in fewer infections, increased intelligence, probable protection against overweight and diabetes, and cancer prevention for mothers [5]. In the developing countries situations with a high burden of disease and low access to clean water and sanitation, the potential impact of optimal breastfeeding practices is especially of paramount importance [2]. Regarding intelligence, a study showed that compared to non-breastfed child, a child who has been breastfed for two years will likely to have a higher Intelligence Quotient (IQ) by 8 points [6].

Rates of breastfeeding vary widely across the world; most infants are still breast fed at 1 year in low –income countries compared with lower than 20% in many high-income countries and less than 1% in UK indicating that it is one of the few health-positive behaviors more common in poor countries than rich ones [5]. The breastfeeding cessation (before two years) varies from country to country. Pocket studies from different countries showed a varied rate of breast-feeding with a relatively high adherence in developing countries [7,8,9,10,11,12]. Breast feeding practice is more or less universal in Africa, however, there is a gap in adherence to the recommendations to the WHO; where some mothers do not initiate it timely; others do not feed it exclusively for six months, and cease feeding before two years [13].

The reasons why women avoid or stop breastfeeding range from the medical, cultural, and psychological, to physical discomfort and inconvenience [5]. Various factors affecting the early cessation of breast-feeding was documented so far from studies across the world. The factors range from the individual mother’s socio-demographic characteristics like age, educational status to different socio-cultural, breast feeding habits, knowledge, attitude and maternal and child illnesses, and obstetric factors [14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23].

Despite presence of guidelines on infant and young child feeding practices in Ethiopia [24], the duration of breastfeeding has decreased from time to time [25]. Even though few studies addressed the factors that affect duration of breast-feeding in Ethiopia [26, 27], the focus was on duration of exclusive breast-feeding than those who complete the recommended duration of breast-feeding. To the best of our search, one study conducted in Northern Ethiopia tried to assess the factors affecting cessation of breast-feeding in an urban setting at Debre Markos town [28]. Since socio-cultural variations are there in an urban and rural area and among regions, there is a need for a study in a rural area of the country.

Additionally, this study focuses on rural areas because it is usual observation to have a pregnancy shortly after childbirth, which could be as a result of a short inter-birth interval associated with the traditional belief in the society that having a child is considered as having a wealth and the low awareness, either. Thus, this might make women fall short of achieving the WHO recommendation of feeding children to 24 completed months of age. Therefore, the present study tried to fill this gap in evidence by employing a community based cross-sectional study among rural women living in Arba Minch HDSS site.

Methods

Study area, and period

This study was conducted in Arba Minch Health and Demographic Surveillance Site (HDSS), which is located 505 kms far to the South of Addis Ababa, capital city of Ethiopia and about 275 kms from the regional city, Hawassa. The HDSS is a longitudinal surveillance center based at Arba Minch University and collects data on maternal health, nutrition and other attributes of health from two districts nearby Arba Minch town (Arba Minch Zuria Woreda and Gacho Baba Woreda) Farming is the predominant occupation of residents in the districts [29]. According to the health office reports of the districts, the total population projected for the year 2013 E.C (2020/2021 G.C) was 207,368. The district have a total of 7 public health centers and 37 health posts. The surveillance site consists of 08 rural and one semi-urban kebeles (the smallest administrative unit in the existing Ethiopian government structure) which were selected based on generalizability to all kebeles in the woredas. In Arba Minch HDSS, there is a continuous registration and recording of maternal and newborn health services.

Populations

Community based cross-sectional study was conducted. All mothers with children aged 2 to 3 years at Arba Minch HDSS sites, Gamo Zone, Southern Ethiopia, were source population of the current study and randomly selected mothers with children aged 2 to 3 years. Inclusion criteria of the present study was all randomly selected mothers with children aged 2 to 3 years at Arba Minch HDSS sites, Gamo Zone, Southern Ethiopia was included in the study.

Sample size determination

For the first objective the sample was determined using single population proportion formula with considerations of 95% confidence level,5% degree of precision, 32% cessation from Debre Markos [28], with 10% nonresponse rate and the sample size is 369.

For the second objective the sample size was calculated by double population formula considering 95% confidence interval, 80% power, ratio of unexposed to exposed = 1, proportions obtained from a study done in Debre Markos town, Northern Ethiopia with P1 (proportion of cessation of breast feeding among women who were housewives, 25.4%) and P2 (proportion of cessation of breast feeding among women who were employed (government plus private), 38.5% [28]. The sample size obtained was 396. After adding 10% of potential non-response rate, the total sample size considered for this study was 436.

From the calculated sample sizes, the largest sample size to conduct the study is 436.

The sample mothers were selected using a mix of random sampling techniques. Initially, the list of total number of mothers with children aged 2 to 3 years at Arba Minch HDSS kebeles was obtained from the HDSS database. Then, a proportional allocation of mothers was made to each kebele based on the number of women in each kebele. The sample women eligible for interview were selected using a random selection from the list of women using the SPSS software select command.

Variables of the study

Dependent variable of the present study is prevalence of early cessation of breast-feeding before two years. Independent variables were socio-demographic variables, feeding practice and related variables, obstetrics and related variables.

Measurements

Early cessation of breastfeeding

Mother’s stoppages of breastfeeding before their children are two years of age [28].

Data collection tools and procedures

The quantitative data was collected using an interviewer-administered, pre-tested and structured questionnaire. The questions were adapted from women questionnaire on breast-feeding from the Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey and other related literatures from studies conducted on breastfeeding [1,2,3]. Thus, the questions will comprise socio-demographic, feeding practice, maternal and child health condition and obstetric determinants of early cessation of breast feeding and the data was collected from mothers with children aged two to three years. Wealth index of individuals household was assessed using an adapted questionnaire from the EDHS wealth index assessment tool. The questions were initially prepared in English then translated to Amharic and then back translated to English by language experts to ensure consistency. Thirteen HDSS data collectors who had prior experience in data collection were collected the data and four public health officers from the different district health facilities were assigned as supervisors. Two days long training was given to the data collectors and supervisors on the data collection process. The list of women to be interviewed from each kebele was provided to the data collectors in advance and health development army leaders guided the data collectors to the respective women to be interviewed on house-to-house basis. ODK application was used to collect data.

Data quality assurance

To assure the quality of data, thorough training was provided to the data collectors of. Before commencement of data collection, pretest was conducted on 5% of the sample size (44 mothers) in one of the kebeles in the district which was not part of the HDSS. Data was checked for completeness and consistency before data entry. The variables were coded, then edited during data entry. ODK was used to prepare template of questions and data was collected using the ODK mobile phone application. To minimize recall bias, intensive training was given for data collectors on about probing techniques using common local events.

Data analysis procedure

Data was initially entered into Epi-data software version 3.1 and then exported to SPSS version 25 statistical package for analysis. Descriptive analysis (frequencies, mean, proportion, standard deviation) was done and summarized by tables and graphs. Household wealth index (socio-economic status) of the individual households was analyzed by employing principal component analysis.

Bivariable logistics regression was used to select candidates’ variables. Variables with P-value <0.25 in the bivariable logistics regression model were entered into the multivariable logistics regression model in order to measure the association with the outcome variable after adjusting the effects of other variables using the Backward LR method. Variables with P-value<0.05 in the multivariable logistics regression analysis were considered as statistically significant for the cessation of breast-feeding before two years. Model fitness was checked by Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness fitness test. Multi-collinearity among explanatory variables was checked using Variance Inflation Factor (VIF >10). Odd ratio with its 95% confidence interval was reported to show the magnitude of association between the outcome and explanatory variables.

Ethical consideration

Ethical clearance was obtained from Institutional Review Board (IRB) of Arba Minch University, College of Medicine and Health Science. Respondents were informed about the purpose and procedure of the study and written consent was obtained from each participant. The written consent was obtained by the approval of the IRB for there could be participants who could not read and write. The privacy and confidentiality of the information was assured for participants in the study and the questionnaire was kept anonymous.

Result

Socio demographic characteristics

The response rate of the current study was 99.3% (433). Nearly two-third (66.3%) of the mothers was under the age group of 25–34 years. 76.9% of the mothers were protestant by religion and 79.9% were Gamo by ethnicity. Nearly all (98.8%) respondents were married and more than half (54.5%) were not have formal education. More-than one-third (37.9%) child fathers were not followed formal education. Nearly two third (65.80%) of the fathers were farmer by occupation. Regarding family size more than one-third (36.49%) had a family size of seven and above (Table 1).

Table 1 Socio demographic characteristics of participants in Arba Minch HDSS 2022
Full size table

Feeding practice and related factors

About one third (19.60%) of the respondent were lowest in wealth index. Nearly half (48.50%) of the mother got support from partner. More than two third (73.90%) of the mothers not listened radio. Half (50.35%) of the child’s were females. Among the reasons for early cessations of breast feeding, 29.30% of the mothers replied that they got pregnant. From the respondents 85.91% reported that they exclusively breast feed their child and 24.48% of the mothers bottle feed their child. Among the respondents 48.04% were provided practical breast feeding education (Table 2).

Table 2 Feeding practice and related factors of participants in Arba Minch HDSS 2022
Full size table

Feeding practice and related factors

Regarding breast feeding 29.3% had experienced early cessation of breast feeding (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1
figure 1

Early cessation of breast feeding of participants in Arba Minch HDSS 2022

Full size image

Obstetric characteristics

For more than one-third (36.03%) of the mothers time to initiation of breast feeding were not the first hour. Regarding the age of the mothers at fist time of pregnancy, 75.29% were less-than 24 years of ages. Nearly one-third of the mothers were gave birth of more than five children. Half (49.74%) of the mothers were gave birth with interval of less-than 2 years. More-then one-third (37.88%) of the mothers were not followed antenatal care during their pregnancy of the index child. Nearly half (48.27%) of the mothers were delivered at home and majority (96.30%) of the respondents gave birth through spontaneous vaginal delivery (Table 3).

Table 3 Obstetric characteristics of participants in Arba Minch HDSS, 2022
Full size table

Factors associated with early cessation of breast feeding

Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis was done to identify factors associated with early cessation of breast feeding. On the bivariate analysis, wealth index, father educational status, mother occupational status, family support, age at first pregnancy, birth interval, ANC visit frequency, place of child delivery, initiation of breast feeding showed p-value of <0.25 and became a candidate for multivariable analysis (Table 4).

Table 4 Multivariable logistic regression model showing factors associated with early cessation of breast feeding in Arba Minch HDSS, 2022
Full size table

All variables had fulfilled chi-square assumption. On multivariable analysis, by taking other variables constant, child’s fathers with no formal education and primary education were 88 and 70% less likely to have early cessation of breast feeding as compared to secondary educated and above [AOR = 0.22; 95%CI (0.07,0.74)] and [AOR = 0.30; 95%CI (0.12,0.76)] respectively.

Maternal occupational status was also statistically significantly associated with early cessation of breast feeding. Farmer were 6.4 times more likely to early cessation breast feed than private occupation [AOR = 6.40; 95%CI: (1.38, 29.74)]. Those mothers with birth interval of less than 2 years were 2.07 times more likely to early cessation breast feed than those with birth interval of more than 2 years [AOR = 2.07; 95%CI: (1.03,4.16)].

Frequency of antenatal care was statistically significantly associated with early cessation of breast feeding. Mothers with one visit were 9.27 times more likely to early cessation of breast feed than those mothers with four visit and more [AOR = 9.27; 95%CI: ((2.10, 40.83)]. Similarly, Mothers with two to three visit were 2.73 times more likely to early cessation of breast feed than those mothers with four visit and more [AOR = 2.73; 95%CI: (1.27,5.88)] (Table 4).

Hosmer Lemeshow’s goodness-of-fit test produce chi-square of 2.962 with p-value of 0.94 and 8 degree of freedom hence the model was good for the data.

Discussion

The study examined early cessation of breast feeding and factors affecting it in rural Southern Ethiopia.

In the study, more than one in four of women ceased breast feeding before 24 months of age of their children.

This finding is in line with the 2019 Ethiopian demographic and health survey national report [5]. However, it is lower than studies conducted in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates [30] and Hula District, Southern Ethiopia [31]. Even though the two studies reported on early cessation of breast feeding, the populations considered were different. In the Abu Dhabi study, the participants were working women while they were rural women with children under one year for rural women in Hula district [30, 31]. Unlike the recommendation that children need to breastfeed up to the age of two years, proportion of women a high proportion of women in the study are lagging behind this in the current study. This might be explained by lack of adequate information about proper breast feeding practice by mothers in the present study, since about half (48.04%) of mothers in the current study did not attend breast feeding counseling. Exposure to such information gives an opportunity in achieving improved child breast feeding practice so that mothers could breast feed their child optimally [32].

The present study revealed that father’s educational status was statistically significantly associated with early cessation of breast feeding. Fathers who did not attend formal education and who attended primary education were less likely to early cease breast feeding as compared to those fathers who attended secondary education and above. The finding of the current study is consistent with a study conducted in Philippines. Fathers with higher education level were more likely to be involved in works requiring them to be away from their parenting child and might not have enough time to encourage the mother to breast feed the child optimally [33].

Occupational status was also statistically significantly associated with early cessation of breast feeding were more likely to early cease breast feeding than private workers. This is in line with a finding from Osun State, Nigeria. Moreover, previous study in Ethiopia documented a high sub-optimal breast feeding practice in the rural parts of the country which is predominantly populated with farmers [19, 31, 34]. This might be related to inadequate access to information on optimal breast feeding and health care owing to least access to health care facilities and health care professionals. Where adequate information might be available, the labor-intensive and time-demanding life in rural areas and farming work would deter farmers from adhering to recommendations of optimal breast feeding [31]. Tis might imply tailoring optimal breast feeding information to mothers from different job backgrounds in the study area.

Frequency of antenatal care was statistically significantly associated with early cessation of breast feeding. Mothers with three and less ante natal visit were more likely to early cease breast feeding than those mothers with four visits and more ANC attendance also showed association with breast feeding practice in previous studies from Ethiopia and other parts of the world [27, 31, 32]. In the current study, apart from ANC attendance, the frequency of attendance has also mattered for the association. During the later visits of ANC, there is a higher chance of getting advice on optimal breast feeding that might improve breast feeding practice [32]. It is clear that repeated contact to health professionals provides an opportunity to adhere to the optimal recommendation.

Short inter-birth interval has also association with early cessation of breast feeding. This finding is consistent with a systematic review done in Ethiopia [35]. This can be explained by the empirical shortage of time for feeding since women who give birth before two years gap in pregnancy would cease breast feeding because of the pregnancy itself. This implies the benefit of family planning for both children and mothers.

Conclusion

More than one third of the mothers in the present study ceased breast feeding before twenty four months. Factors associated with early cessation of breast feeding were father’s educational status, maternal occupation, birth interval of less than two years and having less ante natal care visits than optimal.

Partner inclusive health education should be given for rural community including farmers about duration of optimal breast feeding. Antenatal care service provision should be strengthened so that mothers might have adequate number of visits. Counseling should be given regarding appropriate birth spacing and family planning. Moreover, breast feeding education should be enhanced among rural farmers in the study area, by extension to Ethiopia.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and analyzed during the current study are included in the manuscript.

Abbreviations

CBF:

Cessation of breast-feeding

EDHS:

Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey

HDSS:

Health Demographic Surveillance Site

IQ:

Intelligence Quotient

WHO:

World Health Organization

UNICEF:

United Nations Children’s Fund

References

  1. World Health Organization/UNICEF. Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding: World Health Organization; 2003. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/42590

    Google Scholar 

  2. World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action. World Breastfeeding Week, 2016. worldbreastfeedingweek.org/2015/index.shtml. Accessed 6 Dec 2022.

  3. Delgado C, Matijasevich A. Breastfeeding up to two years of age or beyond and its influence on child growth and development: a systematic review. Cadernos de Saúde Pública, Rio de Janeiro. 2013;29(2):243–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. World Health Organization. Infant and Young Child Feeding. Geneva; 2021. [8/12/2022]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/infant-and-young-child-feeding

  5. Breastfeeding: Achieving the new normal. Editorial. Lancet. 2016;387(10017):404.

  6. Der G, Batty GD, Deary IJ. Effect of breastfeeding on intelligence in children: prospective study, sibling pair analysis and meta-analysis. Br Med J. 2006;333:945.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Odom EC, Li R, Scanlon KS, Perine CG, Grummer-Strawn L. Reasons for earlier than desired cessation of breastfeeding. Pediatrics. 2013;131(3):e726–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Olang B, Heidarzadeh A, Strandvik B, Yngve A. Reasons given by mothers for discontinuing breastfeeding in Iran. Int Breastfeed J. 2012;7(1):7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Carletti C, Pani P, Knowles A, Monasta L, Montico M, Cattaneo A. Breastfeeding to 24 months of age in the northeast of Italy: a cohort study. Breastfeed Med. 2011;6(4):177–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. De Huang L, Zeng G, Li M, Ran L, Chen K, Pang X, et al. Duration of breastfeeding and its relevant influencing factors in urban and rural areas of Chengdu. J Hygiene Res. 2012;41(5):760–4.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Radwan H. Patterns and Determinants of breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices of emirates mothers in the United Arab Emirates. BMC Public Health. 2013;13(1):171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Ictor R, Baines SK, Agho KE, Dibley MJ. Determinants of breastfeeding indicators among children less than 24 months of age in Tanzania: a secondary analysis of the 2010 Tanzania demographic and health survey. Br Med J Open. 2013;3(1):e001529.

  13. Trends NF. In infant feeding in developing countries. Pediatrics. 1984;74(4):648–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Afrose L, Banua B, Ahmeda KR, Khanoma K. Factors associated with knowledge about breastfeeding among female garment workers in Dhaka city. WHO South-East Asia J Publ Health. 2012;1(3):249–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Olayemi O, Aimakhu CO, Bello FA, Motayo VO, Ogunleye AA, Odunukan OW, et al. The influence of social support on the duration of breast-feeding among antenatal patients in Ibadan. J Obstet Gynaecol. 2007;27(8):802–5.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Dashti M, Scott JA, Edwards CA, Al-Sughayer M. Predictors of breastfeeding duration among women in Kuwait: results of a prospective cohort study. Nutrients. 2014;6(2):711–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Bai DL, Fong DY, Tarrant M. Factors associated with breastfeeding duration and exclusivity in mothers returning to paid employment postpartum. Matern Child Health J. 2015;19(5):990–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Akter S, Rahman MM. Duration of breastfeeding and its correlates in Bangladesh. J Health Popul Nutr. 2010;28(6):595–601.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Mbada CE, Olowookere AE, Faronbi JO, Oyinlola-Aromolaran FC, Faremi FA, Ogundele AO, et al. Knowledge, attitude and techniques of breastfeeding among Nigerian mothers from a semiurban community. BMC Res Notes. 2013;6(1):552.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Bakoula C, Veltsista A, Prezerakou A, Moustaki M, Fretzayas A, Nicolaidou P. Working mothers breastfeed babies more than housewives. Acta Paediatr. 2007;96(4):510–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Haile D, Belachew T, Birhanu G, Setegn T, Biadgilign S. Predictors of breastfeeding cessation among HIV infected mothers in southern Ethiopia:a survival analysis. PLoS One. 2014;9(3):e90067.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Hazir T, Akram DS, Nisar YB, Kazmi N, Agho KE, Abbasi S, et al. Determinants of suboptimal breast-feeding practices in Pakistan. Public Health Nutr. 2013;16(4):659–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Doherty T, Sanders D, Jackson D, Swanevelder S, Lombard C, Zembe W, et al. Early cessation of breastfeeding amongst women in South Africa: an area needing urgent attention to improve child health. BMC Pediatr. 2012;12(1):105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Ethiopian National Strategy on Infant and Young Child Feeding, 2004, Ministry of Health: Ethiopia. https://extranet.who.int/nutrition/gina/sites/default/filesstore/ETH%202004%20National%20Strategy%20for%20Infant%20and%20Young%20Child%20Feeding.pdf

  25. Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey, 2011, Central Statistical Agency: Addis Ababa. https://www.unicef.org/ethiopia/ET_2011_EDHS.pdf.

  26. Kasahun AW, Wako WG, Gebere MW, Neima GH. Predictors of exclusive breastfeeding duration among 6–12 month aged children in gurage zone, South Ethiopia: a survival analysis. Int Breastfeed J. 2016;12(1):1–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Tsega TD, Tafere Y, Ashebir W, Asmare B. Time to breastfeeding cessation and its predictors among mothers who have children aged two to three years in Gozamin district, Northwest Ethiopia: A retrospective follow-up study. PLoS One. 2022;17(1):e0262583.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Hunegnaw MT, Gelaye KA, Ali BM. Factors associated with the time to cessation of breastfeeding among mothers who have index children aged two to three years in Debre Markos, northwest Ethiopia: a retrospective follow up study. BMC Pediatr. 2018;18(1):1–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Gutema BT, Chuka A, Kondale M, Ayele G, Kote M, Zerdo Z, et al. The Burden of Malnutrition among Adults Residing in Arba Minch Health and Demographic Surveillance Site (HDSS): A WHO STEPS Survey. J Nutr Metab. 2020;2020:6986830.

  30. Taha Z, Hassan AA, Wikkeling-Scott L, Papandreou D. Factors Associated with Delayed Initiation and Cessation of Breastfeeding Among Working Mothers in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates. Int J Women's Health. 2021;12:539.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Hoche S, Meshesha B, Wakgari N. Sub-Optimal Breastfeeding and Its Associated Factors in Rural Communities of Hula District, Southern Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study. Ethiop J Health Sci. 2018;28(1):49–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Zakarija-Grkovic I, Segvic O, Vuckovic Vukusic A, Lozancic T, Bozinovic T, Cuze A, et al. Predictors of suboptimal breastfeeding: an opportunity for public health interventions. Eur J Pub Health. 2016;26(2):282–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Abada TS, Trovato F, Lalu N. Determinants of breastfeeding in the Philippines: a survival analysis. Soc Sci Med. 2001;52(1):71–81.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Ashimolowo OR, Aromolaran AK, Akinmoyede OG. Farming Mothers’ Perceptions on Exclusive Breastfeeding in Ori-Ade Area, Osun State. Asian J Agric Rural Dev. 2013;3(4):176–85.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Damtie Y, Kefale B, Yalew M, Arefaynie M, Adane B. Short birth spacing and its association with maternal educational status, contraceptive use, and duration of breastfeeding in Ethiopia. A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One. 2021;16(2):e0246348.

Download references

Acknowledgements

We would like to address our sincere appreciation and warmest thanks to HDSS at Arba Minch University for the provision of data used as a sampling frame to this study.

Funding

Not applicable.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of public Health, College of Medicine and Health Science, Arba Minch University, Arba Minch, Ethiopia

    Kidus Temesgen, Eshetu Andarge, Teshale Fikadu, Muluken Bekele, Yilma Chisha & Habtamu Esubalew

  2. College of Medicine and Public health, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Eshetu Andarge

  3. Department of nutrition and dietetics, Faculty of Public Health, Institute of Health, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia

    Teshale Fikadu

  4. Department of Public health, Arba Minch College of Health Science, Arba Minch, Ethiopia

    Temesgen Mohammed Toma

Authors
  1. Kidus Temesgen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Eshetu Andarge
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Teshale Fikadu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Muluken Bekele
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Yilma Chisha
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Habtamu Esubalew
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Temesgen Mohammed Toma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Conceptualization: Eshetu Andarge. Data curation: Eshetu Andarge, Kidus Temesgen, Teshale Fikadu. Formal analysis: Eshetu Andarge, Kidus Temesgen, Teshale Fikadu, Yilma Chisha. Funding acquisition: Eshetu Andarge. Investigation: Eshetu Andarge, Kidus Temesgen, Muluken Bekele. Methodology: Eshetu Andarge, Kidus Temesgen, Yilma Chisha, Habtamu Esubalew. Project administration: Eshetu Andarge, Kidus Temesgen, Temesgen Mohammed Toma. Resources: Eshetu Andarge, Kidus Temesgen. Software: Kidus Temesgen, Eshetu Andarge. Supervision: Eshetu Andarge, Kidus Temesgen, Teshale Fikadu, Muluken Bekele, Yilma Chisha, Habtamu Esubalew, Temesgen Mohammed Toma. Validation: Eshetu Andarge, Kidus Temesgen, Habtamu Esubalew, Temesgen Mohammed Toma. Visualization: Eshetu Andarge, Kidus Temesgen. Writing original draft: Eshetu Andarge, Kidus Temesgen. Writing review & editing: Eshetu Andarge, Kidus Temesgen, Teshale Fikadu, Muluken Bekele, Yilma Chisha, Habtamu Esubalew, Temesgen Mohammed Toma. The authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kidus Temesgen.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Study was approved by Institutional Review Board of Arba Minch University, College of Medicine and Health Science. Respondents were informed about the purpose and procedure of the study and written consent was obtained from each participant. The study was followed the principles of declaration of Helsinki. The privacy and confidentiality of the information was assured.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests to disclose.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Temesgen, K., Andarge, E., Fikadu, T. et al. Early cessation of breastfeeding and the associated factors among mothers with children aged 2 to 3 years in rural Southern Ethiopia: a community-based cross-sectional study. BMC Nutr 9, 22 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40795-023-00681-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40795-023-00681-5

Keywords

BMC Nutrition

ISSN: 2055-0928

Contact us