OBJECTIVE: In children younger than two years old, to verify the association between complementary food introduction, socioeconomic characteristics of mothers and biological characteristics of children. METHODS: Cross-sectional study of 516 mothers of children younger than two years old who were interviewed during 2004 national campaign for vaccination in health care clinics of Florianópolis, in the Southern region of Brazil. Data regarding introduction of complementary food, socioeconomic characteristics of the mothers and biological characteristics of the children were collected. Multiple logistic regression analysis was applied to verify whether the introduction of complementary food was associated with socioeconomic characteristics of the family. RESULTS: Among children younger than two years old, only 28.7% received exclusive breastfeeding until six months. Among children younger than six months, only 49.6% were on exclusive breastfeeding at the time of the interview. Among all studied children, 80% received fruit, 77.5% natural juice along with breastfeeding and 36.8% received modified milk in substitution to breastfeeding before six months of age. Multivariate regression analysis identified that families with low educational level and working mother had more chance to introduce complementary food earlier. CONCLUSIONS: Low educational level and working mothers were risk factors for early introduction of complementary food.
complementary feeding; infant nutrition; breastfeeding; weaning
