Context The health benefi ts of breastfeeding for infants have been well documented. International1 and country-specifi c2 professional organisations recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the fi rst 6 months of life and breastfeeding with complementary foods for at least 1 year. Quigley et al sought to measure the effects of any breastfeeding as well as the effects of exclusive breastfeeding on...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate whether the support offered by maternity hospitals is associated with higher prevalences of exclusive and predominant breastfeeding. METHODS This is a cross-sectional study including a representative sample of 916 infants less than six months who were born in maternity hospitals, in Ribeirao Preto, Sao Paulo, Southeastern Brazil, 2011. The maternity hospitals were evalua...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to determine whether implementing a program based on a clinical protocol affects breastfeeding rates within a pediatric primary care setting. Increasing breastfeeding rates is an important public health initiative identified by multiple agencies. METHODS The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM) clinical protocol ("The Breastfeeding-Friendly Physician...

Exclusive breastfeeding is known to have nutritional and health benefits. This study investigated factors associated with exclusive breastfeeding among infants aged five months or less in Timor-Leste. The latest data from the national Demographic and Health Survey 2009-2010 were analyzed by binary logistic regression. Of the 975 infants included in the study, overall 49% (95% confidence interva...

Although a large majority of US mothers now begin breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding rates fall far below national health objectives, with vulnerable populations being least likely to breastfeed exclusively. This article explores common personal and societal barriers to exclusive breastfeeding and offers evidence-based strategies to support mothers to breastfeed exclusively, such as ensurin...

BACKGROUND Exclusive breastfeeding is the most widely known and effective intervention for preventing early-childhood deaths. Optimum breastfeeding practices can prevent 1.4 million deaths worldwide among children under five every year. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding and associated factors among mothers who have an infant less than six months old i...

PURPOSE Despite a substantial amount of evidence on breastfeeding among non-adolescent mothers, research and strategies uniquely designed to target adolescent mothers are critical because their rates of breastfeeding are disproportionately low and their transition to parenthood is often unlike that of older mothers. Literature to date, however, offers limited evidence for designing effective in...

BACKGROUND Exclusive breastfeeding is defined as feeding infants only breast milk, be it directly from breast or expressed, with no addition of any liquid or solids apart from drops or syrups consisting of vitamins, mineral supplements or medicine, and nothing else. Several studies have shown that exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months plays a great role in preventing morbidity and mo...

BACKGROUND The Nationale Stillkommission was founded in Germany in 1994 to increase the acceptance of breastfeeding as the primary means of infant nutrition. Scientific studies like "Stillen und Säuglingsernährung (SuSe-Studie)", and regional studies in Bavaria, Freiburg, Hamburg, and Berlin demonstrated breastfeeding initiation rates of 90 to 95%, but the total breastfeeding rate decreased to ...