Determinants of short term breastfeeding in Tunisia

Breastfeeding is recognized as the most suitable form of nutrition for newborns and infants. Indeed, the benefits of breastfeeding are not just nutritional, and a large number of publications in the scientific literature highlight the health benefits for both mothers and children. It has been widely demonstrated that the benefits of breastfeeding are proportional to its duration.Despite recommendations, the prevalence of breastfeeding in Tunisia stands at 8.5%, and has been steadily declining over time. We conducted an analytical cross-sectional study to investigate the rate of exclusive breastfeeding and the factors determining early weaning. Prematurity and early diversification were the independent risk factors for early weaning, with prematurity increasing the risk of early weaning by a factor of 1.5 (OR: 1.5 [1.1-1.7]) and early diversification increasing the risk of early weaning by a factor of 8.8 (OR: 8.8 [2.7-19]).