Associated Factors in the Early Weaning in Mothers Assisted by Infantile Nursing Service in Florianopolis/SC

materno; Desmame; Determinantes epidemiologicos; Puericultura. Objective: To identify the prevalence of the early weaning (exclusive breast-feeding <6months), in mothers of children aged 6 to 12 months of age, in monitoring of child care at Hospital Universitario da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (HU-UFSC) and the Unidade de Saude do Saco Grande II (USSGII) in the city of Florianopolis/SC and to determined its association with maternal and infant variables. Method: The transversal study of descriptive and analytical characteristics was conducted through interviews guided by a questionnaire answered by 200 mothers who had routine visits in these two units of public health in Florianopolis, between january and april 2005. We used Fisher's exact test or chi-square test for univariate analysis and variables with p less than 0.20 were included in a multiple logistic regression model to test the independence between them, considering statistically significant p value ≤0.05. Results: The breastfeeding (BF) was accomplished by 98% of women and the weaning was early in 81.6% of cases. The variables, mother has until 26 years of age (OR: 2,9; 95% IC: 1,2-6,9; p=0,015), conduct antenatal in USSG II (OR: 3,3; 95% IC: 1,1-9,5; p=0,029), the baby not to breastfeed in the first hour of life (OR: 3,6; 95% IC: 1,4-9,5; p=0,008) and as the maternal employment during the first six months postpartum (OR: 6,0; 95% IC: 2,3-15,8; p less than 0,001) were related to the initiation of early weaning regardless of other variables. Conclusion: The rate of exclusive breastfeeding in this sample is lower than those recommended by the World Health Organization. Occurred association independent of other variables, from the early weaning with, maternal labor and age, place of antenatal care and time taken to first feeding.