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Breastfeeding: the Numbers
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Ross Labs
Until recently, ironically enough, the primary source for statistical information on breastfeeding rates for the United States was Ross Labs (Ross Products Division, Abbott Laboratories), one of the major infant formula manufacturers. This used to be essentially the only source for breastfeeding statistics, but this is changing. Ross only collects information for babies up to 12 months old, since that is their primary sales market.
View Ross Labs data & graph (1970-present): [in this window] [in a different window]
Other sources for US breastfeeding rate information
Li R, Zhao Z, Mokdad A, Barker L, Grummer-Strawn L. Prevalence of breastfeeding in the United States: the 2001 National Immunization Survey. Pediatrics 2003 May;111(5 Part 2):1198-201. This study utilized a telephone survey, done in the third quarter of 2001, of 896 families of children aged 19 to 35 months. The researchers reported that the number of babies being breastfed experienced a "sharp decline" between the ages of 2 and 3 months, the time when many women return to work or school and need additional support in order to continue breastfeeding. Following is a summary of some of the data:
| Age | Some Breastfeeding | Exclusive Breastfeeding |
| birth | 65.1% | -- |
| 7 days | -- | 59.3% |
| 6 months | 27.0% | 7.9% |
| 12 months | 12.3% | -- |
Breastfeeding after 12 months in the United States
When my daughter had been nursing for over 15 months, I've tried to find some data on what percentage of moms breastfeed longer than one year, but could find very little information worldwide and nothing for the US. In my search for information, I suggested a daily poll question to ParentsPlace, and they ran the below poll in April 1998. Although this certainly can't be considered a "valid" statistical survey (the results are skewed since everyone answering the poll has an Internet connection, frequents a parenting website, chose to participate in the poll, etc.), it's still rather interesting.
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the 2,637 people who answered: |
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| 18% | bottle-fed, primarily using formula, since the baby's birth. |
| 7% | nursed and weaned within the first two months. |
| 18% | nursed and weaned by 6 months. |
| 22% | nursed and weaned between 6-12 months. |
| 24% | nursed and weaned sometime in the second year (between 12-24 months). |
| 6% | nursed their baby past the second year (between 24-36 months). |
| 5% | nursed their baby past the third year (greater than 36 months). |
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| Source: ParentsPlace | |
Hills-Bonczyk SG, Tromiczak KR, Avery MD, Potter S, Savik K, Duckett LJ. Women's experiences with breastfeeding longer than 12 months. Birth. 1994 Dec;21(4):206-12.
This study might be of interest to other mothers who breastfeed for more than a year. This information was taken from the abstract.
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Sugarman M, Kendall-Tackett KA. Weaning ages in a sample of American women who practice extended breastfeeding. Clin Pediatr (Phila). 1995 Dec;34(12):642-7.
| This study asked the question: "Do US women who practice attachment-style parenting have weaning ages similar to women in more traditional cultures, or would they succumb to societal pressure to wean at earlier ages?" The 179 women studied were recruited from La Leche League Area Conferences. All had nursed at least one child for six months or more. Weaning ages varied widely, ranging from one month to seven years, four months. The average age of weaning for children was 2.5 years (3 years for youngest children). |
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Reasons for weaning
included: "child-led"; related to a subsequent pregnancy; illness
or family circumstances; not being able to diet seriously while
nursing. When women who were currently nursing were asked how they would go about weaning, the majority indicated that weaning should be child-led. Mothers also indicated that they would cut down the number of nursing sessions, substitute other forms of love and nurse only when the child wanted to (practicing "don't offer, don't refuse"). The results of this study suggest that women who practice extended nursing and child-led weaning are likely to nurse well into early childhood. They are also consistent with the weaning ages found in traditional cultures. |
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Worldwide Breastfeeding Rates
Australia
Breastfeeding in Australia, 2001 (9/17/2003), from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, presents data from the 1995 and 2001 National Health Surveys.
The Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) "Dietary Guidelines for Children and Adolescents in Australia incorporating the Infant Feeding Guidelines for Health Workers", dated 10 April 2003, discusses historical and current breastfeeding rates in Australia (see Part 1. Encourage and Support Breastfeeding)
National
Breastfeeding Strategy: Summary Report Commonwealth Department
of
Health and Aged Care – March 2001 (Australia)
Towards
a national system for monitoring breastfeeding in Australia: recommendations
for population indicators, definitions and next steps from the
Australian Food and Nutrition Monitoring Unit (2001)
A search of Lactnet resulted in some 1995 Australian statistics (source: extracted from a report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics "Australian Social Trends 1997". This includes some "unpublished" breastfeeding data from the major 1995 National Health Survey in Australia.):
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| Never breastfed | 12.4 % |
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| Breastfed... | 87.6 % |
| Less than one week | 1.9 % |
| Two weeks or more | 77.7 % |
| Two months or more | 68.1 % |
| Six months or more | 47.1 % |
| One year or more | 15.3 % |
| Unknown duration | 2.3 % |
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Canada
Interlake
Infant Feeding Survey Report, from a survey done in the Interlake
Region of Canada in 1998
Williams PL, Innis SM, Vogel AM. Breastfeeding and weaning practices in Vancouver. Can J Public Health. 1996 Jul-Aug;87(4):231-6.
82.9%.......Percentage of babies breastfed at birth
18.2%.......Percentage of babies breastfed at 9 months
Canadian Breastfeeding Rates from 1994/1995 National Surveys
India
Chhabra P, Grover VL, Aggarwal OP, Dubey KK. Breast feeding patterns in an urban resettlement colony of Delhi. Indian J Pediatr. 1998 Nov-Dec;65(6):867-72.
Japan
Breastfeeding statistics from the First Longitudinal Survey of Babies in 21st Century (2001), Vital and Health Statistics Division, Statistics and Information Department, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan.
Malaysia
Johnson A, Ramos GAG, Sarai F. Infant feeding practice and its relationship with nutritional status and socio-cultural factors in infants 0-12 months of age in Taman Sri Nanding, Hulu Langat, Selangor, Malaysia. (data from 1998)
South Africa
A Demographic and Health Survey of 1998 indicated that 10% of children 0 - 3 months were exclusively breastfed and 2% of children 4 to 6 months were exclusively breastfed.
Sweden
Breast-feeding,
children born 2000 from the Centre
for Epidemiology at the National Board of Health and Welfare,
Official Statistics of Sweden (Amning av barn födda 2000, HÄLSA
OCH SJUKDOMAR 2002:7). Includes a summary in English, and tables
have both Swedish and English text.
United Kingdom
National Infant Feeding Survey 2000 from the United Kingdom includes statistics from 1980-2000 (but mostly 1995 & 2000)
Breastfeeding in the UK - current statistics from BabyFriendly.org.uk is a nice summary of the National Infant Feeding Survey 2000.
Infant Feeding Publications from England's Department of Health
Various Countries Compared
LLLI Center for Breastfeeding Information
Breastfeeding Statistics, September 15, 2003, compiled by Carol Huotari IBCLC, includes current breastfeeding initiation rates and percentages of mothers breastfeeding 4-6 month old babies in many countries around the world.
UNICEF
- UNICEF exclusive breastfeeding rates
- UNICEF statistical data (has data for many countries on breastfeeding duration)
- from the 1996 Progress of Nations report
- from the 1997 Progress of Nations report
- from the 1999 Progress of Nations report
World Health Organization
Global Data Base on Breastfeeding
Other sources of information
Breastfeeding Patterns in the Developing World (1999) from MeasureCommunication.org
2001 Newborn Health Status from the Save The Children USA report: State of the World's Newborns Report 2001. Includes information on "Percent of babies breastfed in the first hour of life 1995-99" and "Percent of babies aged 0-4 months exclusively breastfed (24 hour recall) 1995-99." There is information from 163 countries, but not all have breastfeeding information listed.
European Breastfeeding Rates, from Baby Milk Action (unfortunately, the year is not noted)
Parenting magazine had some information on breastfeeding rates around the world in their April 1997 issue. Their article (p. 34) was entitled "Breastfeeding by the Numbers." The information below is from this article.
The World Health Organization and UNICEF have recommended for a decade that mothers breastfeed for at least two years. But most US women who nurse stop before their baby is six months old - and many never start at all. How do other countries stack up?
| Country | % of mothers who start | % who continue 6 months or longer |
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| Sweden | 98 | 53 |
| Norway | 98 | 50 |
| Poland | 93 | 10 |
| Canada | 80 | 24 |
| Netherlands | 68 | 25 |
| Britain | 63 | 21 |
| United States | 57 | 20 |
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| Sources: Baby Milk Action, Cambridge, England; Center for Breastfeeding Information, Schaumburg, IL | ||
Page last modified:
09/27/2005
Written: 04/29/1998