Breastfeeding correlates in Bangladesh

This paper examines the factors affecting breastfeeding duration in Bangladesh. The bivariate analysis has identified place of residence, administrative division, mother's education, mother's age at birth of index child, parity, husband's education, husband's occupation and bousehold possessions to be important covariates of breastfeeding duration. Among the demographic variables, the most important factor is found to be mother's age at birth of index child. Mother's age exhibits a positive association with duration of breastfeeding. Among the socio-economic variables, the most important covariate is found to be mother's education followed by administrative division and place of residence at the multivariate level. Mother's education demonstrates a negative association with breastfeeding duration while urban women breastfeed for shorter duration than rural women.