LONDON — Only 1 in 200 women in the U.K., or 0.5 percent, breastfeed their children until they are 1 year old — the lowest rate in the world.
Saudi Arabia. In strict Islamic regimes, like Iran and Saudi Arabia, breastfeeding in public is forbidden. On the flipside of this law, breastfeeding is also seen as a religious duty. The Quran specifies that babies should be breastfed by their mothers or a wet nurse for approximately two years.
The highest rates were found in Rwanda (86.9 per cent), Burundi (82.3 per cent), Sri Lanka (82 percent), Solomon Islands (76.2 percent) and Vanuatu (72.6 percent). Research also shows that infants in rural areas have higher levels of exclusive breastfeeding than urban babies.
The ESRI's seminal Growing Up in Ireland study draws links between increasing rates of birth by caesarean section, with lower levels of breastfeeding. It is thought that this could be due to the early hours of the baby's life coinciding with the recovery time post-surgery, during which mother and baby are apart.
4. Breastfeeding is treated as a personal choice. According to the World Health Organization, while French women are breastfeeding more today than they were a decade ago, they still fall short of the recommendations: at least six months of breastfeeding. In France, women often breastfeed just shy of three months.
Croatia has the highest rate of breastfeeding in the entire world. More than 98 percent of all babies are breastfed starting at birth. Some of the other countries that also have very high rates of breastfeeding include Rwanda, Chile, and Burundi. All of these countries have breastfeeding rates greater than 80 percent.
Overall, Asian mothers have high breastfeeding initiation rates and are currently meeting the Healthy People 2020 goals. At 6 and 12 months, Asian mothers have the highest breastfeeding rates relative to all other racial/ethnic groups; however, there are some disparities among Native Hawaiian and Filipino women.
Looking at non-exclusive breastfeeding: 69% of babies are receiving some breastmilk at 4 months of age. 60% of babies are receiving some at 6 months. 28% of babies are still breastfeeding at 12 months.
Reduced breastfeeding support, cuts in public health funding, negative attitude towards breastfeeding in public and a lack of knowledge of the health benefits of breast milk all contribute to Britain having some of the worst breastfeeding rates in the world.
Some women also experience engorgement or cluster feeding. Poor attachment, "not enough breastmilk for the child", and an unsettled baby were the top reasons for ceasing to breastfeed cited in the Australian national infant feeding survey (by parents who stopped breastfeeding entirely before 6 months).
Within developing countries, poorer mothers breastfeed longer, in developed countries, wealthy mothers are more likely to nurse longer.
In China, the rates and duration of exclusive breastfeeding are still relatively low in many areas. A survey conducted in the central and western regions of China reported a rate of exclusive breastfeeding of 58.3% for newborns (aged 0 to 27 days), which declined to 29.1% at 3–4 months and 13.6% at 5–6 months [1].
After that, they recommend breastfeeding as long as “mutually desired by mother and infant.” The World Health Organization (WHO) also recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months, and then continuing to breastfeed for “up to 2 years and beyond.”
PIP: Islamic law requires mothers to breast feed their children for 2 years. the father must assist the mother in breast feeding the children by providing her with food and clothing. If the father dies or does not live at home, the heir must support the mother thereby allowing her to breast feed her infants.
For infants, not being breastfed is associated with an increased incidence of infectious morbidity, including otitis media, gastroenteritis, and pneumonia, as well as elevated risks of childhood obesity, type 1 and type 2 diabetes, leukemia, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
According to surveys conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Japan, more than 90% of pregnant women hope to breastfeed their children. Nevertheless, only 50% of mothers are able to continue EBF with their children up to even 3 months postpartum4.
The practice was considered old-fashioned and "a little disgusting" for those who could not afford infant formula and discouraged by medical practitioners and media of the time.
Breastfeeding was positively associated with IQ performance in children and adolescents. On an average, more breastfed participants had high IQ scores than non-breastfed participants (19). These findings agree with ours to some extent.
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?
They also recommend that breastfeeding be continued for at least the first year, with additional foods being added starting at six months.
For the first month of breastfeeding, a mother's milk continues to provide important health benefits for the baby. Babies who are breastfed generally have better health outcomes. During the first two months of life, they are less likely to get sick than formula-fed babies.
WHO recommends mothers worldwide to exclusively breastfeed infants for the child's first six months to achieve optimal growth, development and health. Thereafter, they should be given nutritious complementary foods and continue breastfeeding up to the age of two years or beyond.
In her book Inventing Baby Food: Taste, Health, and the Industrialization of the American Diet, Amy Bentley argues that distaste for public breastfeeding in the US began with the sexualization of female breasts in the 19th century and was accelerated by the rise in processed baby food occurring around the same time.
Of the three ethnic groups compared, white mothers initiated breastfeeding at the highest rates and black mothers did so at the lowest rates.
These surveillance estimates have consistently shown that non-Hispanic black (black) infants are less likely to breastfeed, compared with other racial/ethnic groups.