BACKGROUND Exclusive breastfeeding rates remain low in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa. We assessed the effects of a mother-based intervention on duration of diarrhoea and pneumonia in communities that were trained and those not trained in community infant and young child feeding (cIYCF) in Midlands Province, Zimbabwe. METHODS We evaluated communities with village health workers who rece...

BACKGROUND Accurate measurement of the duration of exclusive breastfeeding is complicated by factors related to definitions, timing, duration of recall, methods of analysis, and sample biases. Clearly prospective methods are likely to be more accurate but are too expensive to use in most large-scale surveys. Internationally, most surveys use a point-in-time or current status measurement (usuall...

This medical position article by the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition summarises the current status of breast-feeding practice, the present knowledge on the composition of human milk, advisable duration of exclusive and partial breast-feeding, growth of the breast-fed infant, health benefits associated with breast-feeding, nutritional supplementation f...

BACKGROUND Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for the first six months of infants' lives is a cost effective intervention in saving children's lives and can avert 13 - 15% of the 9 million deaths of children under 5 years old in resource poor settings. However, EBF rates have been shown to be low in resource poor settings, ranging between 20 and 40%. In Tanzania, the prevalence of EBF among infants ...

OBJECTIVE Exclusive breast-feeding is estimated to reduce infant mortality in low-income countries by up to 13 %. The aim of the present study was to determine the risk factors associated with suboptimal breast-feeding practices in Pakistan. DESIGN A cross-sectional study using data extracted from the multistage cluster sample survey of the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey 2006-2007. ...

BACKGROUND Both the pattern and duration of breast feeding are important determinants of health outcomes. In vertical HIV transmission research, reliable documentation of early breast feeding practices is important in order to correctly attribute postnatal transmission to feeding pattern. AIMS To validate methods of collecting data on the duration of exclusive breast feeding (EBF) in an area ...

UNLABELLED The objective is to describe the trends of infant feedings choices in HIV context after infant feeding counseling. Descriptive retrospective study: Infant feeding counseling (IFC) sessions were offered to HIV pregnant women by the same team of counselors from April 2008 to December 2012. Counseling content was promoting either exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) or exclusive formula feedin...

BACKGROUND Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) is the best nutrition for the children during the first 6 months of life, yet despite knowing the clear benefits, the practice of EBF is low. The aim of the study is to determine prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding practice and associated factors in Addis Ababa. METHODS A facility based cross-sectional study with internal comparison was conducted amo...

BACKGROUND Under-nutrition is a public health problem in Myanmar. Despite current efforts, the exclusive breastfeeding rate (EBF) for children under six months is only 24%. Intention to breastfeed is a strong predictor for long-term breastfeeding, however, little is known about pregnant women's breastfeeding intentions in Myanmar. We, therefore, aimed to identify the factors associated with wom...

Background: With the development of economy and urbanization, methods of child-feeding have significantly changed in China over the past three decades. However, little is known about breastfeeding in China since 2009. This study aims to update information on the prevalence of breastfeeding in China. Methods: Data were obtained from the first Health Service Household Interview Survey of Hunan Pr...