Factors Affecting the Breastfeeding Duration of Infants and Young Children in China: A Cross-Sectional Study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the factors affecting the duration of continuous breastfeeding of infants within 2 years of age, and to explore intervention strategies that may promote breastfeeding duration in China. METHOD: A self-made electronic questionnaire was used to investigate the breastfeeding duration of infants, and the influencing factors were collected from three levels of individual, family, and social support. The Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test and the multivariable ordinal logistic regression model were used for data analysis. Subgroup analysis was carried out according to region and parity. RESULTS: A total of 1001 valid samples from 26 provinces across the country were obtained. Among them, 9.9% breastfed for less than 6 months, 38.6% for 6 to 12 months, 31.8% for 12 to 18 months, 6.7% for 18 to 24 months, and 13.1% for more than 24 months. Barriers to sustained breastfeeding included the mother's age at birth being over 31, education level below junior high, cesarean delivery, and the baby's first nipple sucking at 2 to 24 h after birth. Factors that promote continued breastfeeding included freelancer or full-time mother, high breastfeeding knowledge score, supporting breastfeeding, baby with low birth weight, first bottle feeding at 4 months and later, first supplementary food at over 6 months old, high family income, the mother's family and friends supporting breastfeeding, breastfeeding support conditions after returning to work, etc. Conclusion: The breastfeeding duration in China is generally short, and the proportion of mothers breastfeeding until the age of 2 years and above, recommended by WHO, is very low. Multiple factors at the individual, family, and social support levels influence the duration of breastfeeding. It is suggested to improve the current situation by strengthening health education, improving system security, and enhancing social support.

Impact of Particle and Crystallite Size of Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 on the Dielectric Properties of BST/P(VDF-TrFE) Composites in Fully Printed Varactors.

In the field of printed electronics, electronic components such as varactors are of special interest. As ferroelectric materials, Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 (BST) and poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-trifluoroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE)) are promising compounds to be used in functional inks for the fabrication of fully inkjet-printed dielectric layers. In BST/P(VDF-TrFE) composite inks, the influence of the particle and crystallite size is investigated by using different grinding media sizes and thermal treatments at varying temperatures. It was found that with an increasing particle and crystallite size, both the relative permittivity and tunability increase as well. However, the thermal treatment which impacts both the particle and crystallite size has a greater effect on the dielectric properties. An additional approach is the reduction in the dielectric layer thickness, which has a significant effect on the maximal tunability. Here, with a thickness of 0.9 µm, a tunability of 29.6% could be achieved in an external electric field of 34 V µm-1.