ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To know the situation of breastfeeding of infants in western China rural areas.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>Probability proportional to size sampling was used in 45 projects counties 10 provinces in western China, and then totally 13 433 children who were under 3 years old were selected to investigate their feeding situation and health situation by questionnaire. SPSS software was used to carry on the statistical analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The proportion of adding starch, egg, milk, bean, meat, vegetable and water was 75.3%, 58.4%, 39.0%, 26.4%, 42.7%, 52.0% and 93.4% respectively. The rate of exclusive breastfeeding of infant less than four months and six months was 16.0% and 2.5% respectively. The proportion of not adding starch, egg, milk, bean, meat, vegetable and water of infants who were one year old was 5.2%, 15.0%, 30.3%, 11.2%, 9.1%, 4.8% and 0.6% respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The rate of exclusive breastfeeding in western rural areas was still low and complementary feeding was still unreasonable.</p>