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Table 1 Sociodemographic, maternal, and child characteristics by infant feeding practice at 40 days and at 6 months in Lebanon

From: Exclusive breastfeeding during the 40-day rest period and at six months in Lebanon: a cross-sectional study

Characteristics #

At 40 days (N = 947)

At 6 months (N = 893)

EBF

(n = 393)

Mixed fed

(n = 361)

EBOT

(n = 191)

p - value*

EBF

(n = 110)

Mixed fed

(n = 343)

BOT + SF

(n = 358)

p - value*

Sociodemographic characteristics

 Governorate of residence

  Beirut

43 (10.9)

31 (8.6)

15 (7.9)

0.074

14 (12.7) a,b

31 (9.0) a

33 (9.2) b

0.009

  Mount Lebanon

123 (31.3)

95 (26.3)

67 (35.1)

36 (32.7) a,b

83 (24.2) a

126 (35.2) b

  North Lebanon

151 (38.4)

134 (37.1)

58 (30.4)

37 (33.6) a,b

152 (44.3) a

107 (29.9) b

  South Lebanon & Nabatieh

53 (13.5)

67 (18.6)

34 (17.8)

17 (15.5) a,b

52 (15.2) a

64 (17.9) b

  Bekaa

23 (5.9)

34 (9.4)

17 (8.9)

6 (5.5) a,b

25 (7.3) a

28 (7.8) b

 Family monthly income (USD)

   ≤ 400

39 (9.9)

38 (10.6)

10 (5.2)

0.341

6 (5.5) a,b

49 (14.4) a

17 (4.8) b

<  0.001

  400.1–1000

180 (45.9)

153 (42.6)

89 (46.6)

56 (50.9) a,b

161 (47.2) a

157 (44.0) b

  1000.1–2000

66 (16.8)

65 (18.1)

47 (24.6)

15 (13.6) a,b

49 (14.4) a

82 (23.0) b

   > 2000

36 (9.2)

30 (8.4)

15 (7.9)

13 (11.8) a,b

16 (4.7) a

40 (11.2) b

  Doesn’t know

42 (10.7)

42 (11.7)

16 (8.4)

12 (10.9) a,b

44 (12.9) a

29 (8.1) b

  Refused to answer

29 (7.4)

31 (8.6)

14 (7.3)

8 (7.3) a,b

22 (6.5) a

32 (9.0) b

 Paternal educational level

  Intermediate or lower

210 (54.7) a,b

205 (57.6) a

92 (48.2) b

0.035

57 (52.3) a,b

208 (61.7) a

175 (49.2) b

0.023

  Secondary education or technical diploma

113 (29.4) a,b

96 (27.0) a

76 (39.8) b

35 (32.1) a,b

87 (25.8) a

123 (34.6) b

  University degree

61 (15.9) a,b

55 (15.4) a

23 (12.0) b

17 (15.6) a,b

42 (12.5) a

58 (16.3) b

 Paternal employment status

  Government or private sector

229 (58.3)

209 (57.9)

117 (61.3)

0.400

67 (60.9)

196 (57.1)

219 (61.2)

0.414

  Self-employed

137 (34.9)

136 (37.7)

67 (35.1)

34 (30.9)

130 (37.9)

122 (34.1)

  Unemployed

27 (6.9)

16 (4.4)

7 (3.7)

9 (8.2)

17 (5.0)

17 (4.7)

 House ownership

  Yes

230 (58.5)

215 (59.6)

122 (63.9)

0.454

60 (54.5)

206 (60.1)

222 (62.0)

0.375

  No

163 (41.5)

146 (40.4)

69 (36.1)

 

50 (45.5)

137 (39.9)

136 (38.0)

 

 Number of owned cars

  0

90 (22.9) a

87 (24.1) a,b

36 (18.8) b

0.046

24 (21.8) a,b

96 (28.0) a

57 (15.9) b

<  0.001

  1

235 (59.8) a

204 (56.5) a,b

102 (53.4) b

66 (60.0) a,b

202 (58.9) a

198 (55.3) b

   ≥ 2

68 (17.3) a

70 (19.4) a,b

53 (27.7) b

20 (18.2) a,b

45 (13.1) a

103 (28.8) b

 Crowding index (individuals/room)

   ≥ 1

349 (88.8)

309 (85.6)

163 (85.3)

0.334

99 (90.0)

303 (88.3)

301 (84.1)

0.138

   < 1

44 (11.2)

52 (14.4)

28 (14.7)

11 (10.0)

40 (11.7)

57 (15.9)

 Number of children

  1–2

199 (50.6) a

203 (56.2) a,b

127 (66.5) b

0.001

59 (53.6) a,b

162 (47.2) a

229 (64.0) b

<  0.001

   ≥ 3

194 (49.4) a

158 (43.8) a,b

64 (33.5) b

51 (46.4) a,b

181 (52.8) a

129 (36.0) b

Maternal characteristics

 Age (years) $

32.1 ± 5.7

31.2 ± 6.6

31.4 ± 6.6

0.122

32.5 ± 5.9

32.2 ± 6.3

31.3 ± 6.4

0.064

 Educational level

  Intermediate or lower

201 (51.1)

180 (49.9)

79 (41.4)

0.067

52 (47.3) a,b

193 (56.3) a

150 (41.9) b

0.001

  Secondary education or technical diploma

103 (26.2)

106 (29.4)

72 (37.7)

30 (27.3) a,b

97 (28.3) a

121 (33.8) b

  University degree

89 (22.6)

75 (20.8)

40 (20.9)

28 (25.5) a,b

53 (15.5) a

87 (24.3) b

 Employment status

  Employed

65 (16.5)

62 (17.2)

40 (20.9)

0.404

14 (12.7)

47 (13.7)

71 (19.8)

0.050

  Housewives

328 (83.5)

299 (82.8)

151 (79.1)

96 (87.3)

296 (86.3)

287 (80.2)

 BMI (kg/m2)

  Normal weight (<  25)

163 (44.4)

137 (42.2)

71 (40.3)

0.903

57 (53.3) a

118 (37.7) b

148 (45.8) a,b

0.024

  Overweight (25–29.99)

117 (31.9)

108 (33.2)

58 (33.0)

29 (27.1) a

103 (32.9) b

105 (32.5) a,b

  Obese (≥ 30)

87 (23.7)

80 (24.6)

47 (26.7)

21 (19.6) a

92 (29.4) b

70 (21.7) a,b

Child characteristics

 Age (months) $

29.6 ± 15.6 a

25.9 ± 16.1 b

25.2 ± 16.4 b

0.001

32.3 ± 13.7 a

28.9 ± 14.7 a,b

27.5 ± 15.5 b

0.014

 Gender

  Male

187 (47.6)

192 (53.2)

103 (53.9)

0.204

49 (44.5)

174 (50.7)

195 (54.5)

0.176

  Female

206 (52.4)

169 (46.8)

88 (46.1)

61 (55.5)

169 (49.3)

163 (45.5)

 Mode of delivery

  Vaginal

241 (61.5) a

197 (55.0) a

79 (41.4) b

<  0.001

74 (67.3) a

205 (59.9) a

157 (44.1) b

<  0.001

  C-section

151 (38.5) a

161 (45.0) a

112 (58.6) b

36 (32.7) a

137 (40.1) a

199 (55.9) b

  Birthweight (g) $

3218.2 ± 500.9

3244.4 ± 562.7

3169.7 ± 547.0

0.297

3293.5 ± 512.0

3232.1 ± 540.3

3188.6 ± 536.9

0.178

  Birth length (cm) $

50.3 ± 3.0

50.3 ± 3.0

50.3 ± 3.4

0.986

50.3 ± 3.3

50.3 ± 2.8

50.3 ± 3.1

0.988

  Weight (kg) $

13.2 ± 3.8 a

12.5 ± 4.2 b

12.7 ± 3.9 a,b

0.043

14.0 ± 3.5 a

12.9 ± 3.5 b

13.2 ± 3.5 a,b

0.018

  Height (cm) $

87.9 ± 12.8 a

84.8 ± 14.2 b

84.9 ± 14.3 b

0.004

90.6 ± 11.1 a

87.4 ± 12.0 b

87.4 ± 12.4 b

0.035

  1. # Data are presented as frequency (%) unless otherwise stated
  2. $ Data are presented as mean ± SD
  3. * Overall p-values compare the three infant feeding groups together and are calculated using chi-squared test for categorical variables and ANOVA for continuous variables
  4. a-b Infant feeding practices with different superscripts differ significantly after Bonferroni adjustment (p - value < 0.0167)