Prevalence and determinants of the use of pacifiers and feedingbottle: a study in Southwest Bahia

Abstract Objectives: to assess the use of pacifier and feedingbottle and their determinants in children from a municipality of Southwest Bahia. Methods: a cross-sectional study was performed with 354 children younger than 12 months old. The event was categorized in: exclusive use of pacifier, exclusive use of feeding bottle,use of pacifier and feeding bottle, and not use any of them. Multinomial analysis with logistic regression was applied, and those who did not use any artificial nipples were thereference variable. Results: it was observed that 11.9% of the children exclusively used pacifiers, 21.2% only use bottles and 32.8% used both of them. The following factors were associated with the exclusive use of pacifiers: low maternal schooling level (eight or less years of education), lack of previous experience with breastfeeding, difficulty in postpartum breastfeeding, and lack of incentive to breastfeeding in puericulture. The exclusive use of feeding bottle was associated with unmarried mothers, aged 35 years old or older, and with less years of education (eight or less years). Women who worked outside home and had difficulty in breastfeeding had greater chance of giving both artificial nipples to the children. Conclusions: the findingspresent different featuresrelated to the exclusive or combined use of pacifiers and feeding bottles, being important to direct health professionals conducts towards mothers’ orientation. Resumo Objetivos: avaliar o uso de chupeta e mamadeira e seus determinantes em crianças de um município da região Sudoeste da Bahia. Métodos: estudo transversal realizado com 354 crianças menores de 12 meses. O evento foi categorizado em uso de chupeta exclusivo, uso de mamadeira exclusiva, uso de chupeta e mamadeira e não faz uso de ambas. Empregou-se análise multinomial com regressão logística tendo os que não usavam bicos artificiais como variável de referência. Resultados: observou-se que 11,9% das crianças faziam uso exclusivo de chupeta, 21,2% de mamadeira, 32,8% de ambos. Estiveram associadas ao uso exclusivo de chupeta: uma menor escolaridade materna (oito ou menos anos de estudo), ausência de experiência anterior com amamentação, dificuldade de amamentar no pós-parto e falta de incentivo à amamentação na puericultura. O uso exclusivo de mamadeira foi associado a mães sem companheiro, com idade de 35 anos ou mais e com menor escolaridade (oito ou menos anos de estudo). Mulheres que trabalhavam fora do lar e que tiveram dificuldade