Introduction:

Breast milk is the fundamental physiological product to promote the nutritional health of the child and its early interruption is a risk factor for the development of diseases.

Objective:

Characterize morbidity in infants with early weaning.

Methods:

Observational, correlational, cross-sectional study conducted in 720 infants between 29 days and 6 months of age, admitted to the Pediatric Teaching Hospital of San Miguel del Padrón from January to December 2014, whom represented the universe and the sample of the study. Variables such as age and type of weaning, previous hospitalizations and their causes were analyzed. The collection of information was carried out through medical records and a questionnaire applied to the mothers.

Results:

Only 27.7% of the children were exclusively breastfed, the rest were weaned at any age, even before one month of birth. As the age of weaning increased, the amount of hospitalizations and morbidity decreased. Those weaned had a higher frequency of respiratory and digestive infections.

Conclusions:

In the infants studied, the earlier the weaning occurs, the greater the risk of morbidity and the need for admission to hospital services was; therefore, it represented less protection for the child's health.

        · resumen en Español     · texto en Español     · Español ( pdf )