The Comparison of Parents’ Educational Level on the Breastfeeding Status Between Turkman and Non-Turkman Ethnic Groups in the North of Iran

BACKGROUND: Mother's milk plays an important role in infant's health, and World Health Organization (WHO) recommends infants should be breastfed for 2 years or up. AIM: The main objective of this study was to evaluate the breastfeeding status based on parents’ educational level with comparison between Turkman and non-Turkman ethnic groups in the North of Iran in 2010. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This is a descriptive, cross-sectional study, which was carried out on 6519 subjects (3897 = non-Turkman and 2622 = Turkman) in urban and rural areas. Data have been collected through interviewing with primary school children's mothers. The schools and students were selected using multi-cluster random sampling methods. Breastfeeding was defined based on WHO predominant definition. RESULTS: Of all mothers, 5.8% (377/6519) breastfed for 6 months, 34.8% (2265/6519) for 7-18 months, 57.4% (3745/6519) for 18-24 months and 2% (132/6519) didn’t breastfeed their infants. Breastfeeding prevalence at 19-24 months in Turkman ethnic group (64.7%; 1696/2622) was significantly more than in non-Turkman ethnic group (52.6%; 2049/3897) (P < 0.01) besides early weaning prevalence (at 6 months) in Turkman group was significantly less than in non-Turkman group (4.7%; 123/2622 vs. 6.5%; 254/3897) (P < 0.01). Odds ratio for weaning before 6 months in non-Turkman mothers were 0.563 (0.365-0.786, confidence interval [CI] 95%) in 1-12 years schooling and 0.665 (0.486-0.910, CI: 95%) in uneducated groups compared to college educated. This ratio in Turkman fathers was 3.413 (1.726-6.746, CI: 95%) in 1-12 years schooling compared with college educated. CONCLUSION: The duration of breastfeeding was longer among Turkman compared with non-Turkman mothers, and longer duration of breastfeeding was associated with higher educational level in the Turkman but not in the non-Turkman mothers.