Table 5.

Per cent overall and per cent stratified by race/ethnicity of the reasons for breastfeeding cessation in a statewide sample of 323 Maryland WIC participants*

Reasons for cessation	%
	Total (n = 311)	African American (n = 114)	Hispanic (n = 63)	White (n = 134)
Not enough milk	23.4	19.5 a	41.3 a , b	18.4 b
Breast discomfort or pain	16.9	23.0 c	3.2 c , d	18.4 d
Infant rejected breast	14.1	11.5 e	30.2 e , f	8.8 f
Had to return to work	12.8	19.5 g , h	9.5 g	8.8 h
Mother sick/taking meds	9.3	8.0	4.8	12.5
Other reasons †	23.3	18.5	11	33.1

WIC, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. *Missing data on reasons for breastfeeding cessation on 12 participants. ^†Other reasons include: infant sick (4.5%), infant seemed hungry (3.8%), infant irritable or not sleeping (1.0%), concerned about infant's growth (1.0%), to allow others to help (2.6%), others recommended (0.6%), infant seemed interested in other foods (2.2%), infant old enough for other liquids (2.6%), mother embarrassed (1.3%), mother smoked (1.0%) and others (3.2%). ^aDifference by Hispanic vs. African American ( = 9.69, P = 0.003). ^bDifference by Hispanic vs. white ( = 11.83, P = 0.001). ^cDifference by Hispanic vs. African American ( = 11.89, P < 0.001). ^dDifference by Hispanic vs. white ( = 8.49, P = 0.003). ^eDifference by Hispanic vs. African American ( = 9.46, P = 0.003). ^fDifference by Hispanic vs. white ( = 14.90, P < 0.001). ^gDifference by Hispanic vs. African American ( = 2.99, P = 0.09). ^hDifference by African American vs. white ( = 5.93, P = 0.02).