BACKGROUND: Breastfeeding ensures the survival and health of a child. The WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months and continuing for up to 2 years. However, the duration of breastfeeding is below what is recommended globally. In Ethiopia, more than a quarter of mothers stop breastfeeding before the second birth date. Information on time to breastfeeding cessation and its predictors is needed to address this issue. OBJECTIVE: To assess the time to the cessation of breastfeeding and its predictors among mothers who have children aged two to 2-3 years in southwest Ethiopia, 2022.Methods: A community-based retrospective follow-up study was conducted among 471 randomly selected mothers with children aged 2-3 years in Southwest Ethiopia from 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2022. An interviewer-administered pre-questionnaire was used to collect the data. The collected data were entered into Epidata version 4.6 and exported to STATA version 14.1 for analysis. Both bivariate and multivariable survival models were fitted. The Weibull proportional hazard model was used to identify predictors for time to breastfeeding cessation. RESULT: The overall incidence of early cessation of breastfeeding was found to be 11.05 per 1000 person-months of the follow-up period. Nearly a quarter (23.38%) of mothers ceased breastfeeding early. Educational status (diploma and above) (AHR=2.49: 95% CI (1.27, 4.90)), not bottle feeding (AHR=0.32, 95% CI(0.13, 0.76)), complementary feeding before 6 months (AHR=1.82, 95% CI(1.40, 2.37), ≥4 ANC follow-up (AHR=0.60
95% CI (0.37, 0.96)), number of children (2-4) (AHR=2.82, CI (1.73, 4.61)) and (>
4) (AHR=3.66, CI (1.36, 9.87)) were independent predictors of early cessation of breastfeeding. CONCLUSION: The time to breastfeeding cessation was higher than that reported in previous studies. Therefore, strengthening maternal health education and breastfeeding counselling at both the health facility and community levels is recommended.