The purpose of this study was to assess the duration of breastfeeding
and the sociodemographic factors affecting it. Data for the study were
drawn from the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey 2004. In total
5,364 mothers were included in the study. The life table and Cox's
proportional hazards model were employed for the analysis of
breastfeeding-related data, which showed that the average duration of
breastfeeding was 31.9 months. Cox regression analysis revealed that
the duration of breastfeeding was positively associated with maternal
age, contraceptive-use, work status, and religion and was negatively
associated with age at marriage, parity, delivery status, region, and
maternal education. Younger mothers, having higher education, higher
maternal parity, caesarean-section birth, being a Muslim, and mothers
who have not used any contraceptive were associated with lower duration
of breastfeeding. The findings suggest that health institutions can
play a significant role in promoting breastfeeding in Bangladesh.
Educational campaigns that stress the benefits of lactation are
important strategies for encouraging mothers to breastfeed longer