Introduction:

The duration of breastfeeding is crucial for child health; however, the prevalence has decreased in recent years, placing children in a population at risk.

Objective:

To determine the factors associated with the duration of breastfeeding in children under 2 years of age in Peru 2021-2022.

Methodology:

Cross-sectional analytical study, through the secondary analysis of data from the Demographic and Family Health Survey (ENDES) of 2021 and 2022. The sample size was 4951 children with their respective mothers. Infant and maternal factors were evaluated using the F-statistic corrected for bivariate analysis with a statistical significance of p<0.05 and a 95% confidence interval. Finally, to measure the association, the crude prevalence ratio (cPR) and the adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR) were calculated using Poisson regression with robust variance.

Results:

85.3% had a duration of 0-6 months and only 14.7% had a duration of up to 23 months. Early baby-mother skin-to-skin non-contact (p <0.01) (aPR 1.19) and consumption of beverages other than breast milk in the first 3 days of birth (p <0.01) (aPR 0.66) were associated with a duration of breastfeeding up to 6 months. Adolescent mothers had a 30.7% duration of breastfeeding of 6 months (p<0.01) (aPR 2.49), on the contrary, the place of rural residence, the non-higher grade and a lower economic income allow breastfeeding for more than 6 months.

Discussion:

The results were associated with not receiving early skin-to-skin contact between the baby and the mother, maternal age equal to or less than 18 years, higher grade, urban place of residence and higher economic income with a shorter duration of breastfeeding in children under 2 years of age.