Reasons for discontinuation of breast feeding in patients who initiated breast feeding but stopped before week 26 post partum (n=74)
| Reason for discontinuation | <6 weeks (n=32) | 6–12 weeks (n=19) | 12–26 weeks (n=23) | Total (n=74) |
| Medication | 3 (9%) | 6 (32%) | 5 (22%) | 14 (19%) |
| Maternal reasons | ||||
| Not enough milk | 13 (41%) | 7 (32%) | 9 (39%) | 29 (39%) |
| Too painful/active disease | 5 (16%) | 8 (42%) | 0 (0%) | 13 (18%) |
| Too much effort | 3 (9%) | 4 (21%) | 1 (4%) | 8 (11%) |
| Work-related | 0 (0%) | 1 (5%) | 3 (13%) | 4 (5%) |
| Mastitis | 3 (9%) | 0 0(%) | 0 (0%) | 3 (4%) |
| Breast cancer screening | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 2 (9%) | 2 (3%) |
| No desire to breast feed | 1 (3%) | 1 (5%) | 0 (0%) | 2 (3%) |
| Shingles | 0 (%) | 0 (%) | 1 (4%) | 1 (1%) |
| Thyroid-related medication | 1 (3%) | 0 (%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (1%) |
| Child-related reasons | ||||
| Struggle to latch | 4 (13%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 4 (5%) |
| Failure to thrive | 1 (3%) | 2 (11%) | 0 (0%) | 3 (4%) |
| Child refused to drink | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 2 (9%) | 2 (3%) |
| Unknown reasons | 5 (16%) | 1 (5%) | 3 (13%) | 9 (12%) |
Some patients discontinued breast feeding for more than one reason.