A Retrospective Study of Factors Affecting Breast Feeding Practices in a Rural Community of Saudi Arabia

This study was conducted during 1987-1988 academic year in the rural areas of Tihama Saudi Arabia to assess the average duration of breast feeding and the effect of some factors. A multi-way analysis of variance approach was used to examine the effect of mother's age, parity and education on the duration of breast feeding. The mean duration of breast feeding was 11.2 months +/- and the results of the regression analysis shows all the three maternal variables, age, parity and education to have statistically significant independent effect on the duration of breast feeding. The results showed that 98.3% support breast feeding and 78.9% of the sample were illiterates. These findings are discussed in relation to previous work.