Percentage of infants breastfed at 3 months of age and at 6 months of age.
Calculation
Percentage of infants reaching their first birthday in the given calendar year who were breastfed, at least partially, when they were 3 and 6 months of age.
Relevant dimensions and subgroups
Calendar year
Country
Socio-economic status (see data availability)
Region (see data availability)
Preferred data type and data source
Preferred data type
Specific population survey data, records from maternal and child services (see remarks).
Preferred data source
WHO-HfA (see remarks).
Data availability
WHO-HfA: aims to provide data for the EU-27, Iceland and Norway, from year 1976 onwards, but in practice data are lacking for several countries/years. For 2009 HFA holds data for less than 10 EU MS. No data by region and by socio-economic status available in HfA. The ISARE project on regional data did not collect regional data on breastfeeding.
Data periodicity
Data are updated annually.
Rationale
Breastfeeding is an important determinant of the health of both mother and child and in terms of e.g. nutrition and infections (child), and weight gain and risk for breast cancer (mother).
Remarks
Comparability of data in WHO-HfA is very limited. They are obtained from national HIS which are not always harmonised, especially regarding exclusive versus partial breastfeeding, duration of breastfeeding, recall period, interview questions, methods and year of data collection. Not all countries gather regular data on breastfeeding and few have data on trends. Nevertheless, ECHIM decided to choose WHO-HFA as preferred source, based on the idea that it will be more feasible to improve the existing, structural data flow to HFA, than to set up completely new data collections. A thorough mapping exercise on the different types of sources available in the countries and their quality is needed (see work to do section; joint venture WHO and ECHIM). Based on that a funded choice can be made regarding preferred source(s).
The WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life, and subsequent breastfeeding with appropriate complementary foods while breastfeeding continues for up to two years of age or beyond.
Survey recommendations WHO-EURO according to EUHSID database: For each child between six months and four years of age, ask: Was the child breast-fed (include partial breast-feeding) at the age of: 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months (yes/no) (face to face questionnaire).
In a general health interview survey sample size needs to be large enough since only a small part of the respondents will have children between six months and four years of age. Therefore a specific population survey among women of childbearing age is to be preferred.
PERISTAT has collected data on breastfeeding, but only during the first 48 hours after birth. This indicator provides one measure in the perinatal period, which can be complemented by breastfeeding during infancy, e.g. at 3 and at 6 months of age. The PERISTAT indicator on breastfeeding probably will not be incorporated into Eurostat regular data collection.
The Child Health Indicators of Life and Development (CHILD) project recommends a) Percentage of newborn children exclusively breastfed at hospital discharge or immediately after birth; b) Percentage of all 6 month old children exclusively breastfed at 6 months; c) Percentage of all 12 month old children receiving breastfeeding at 12 months. For breastfeeding immediately after birth/at 48 hours hospital data and maternity clinic/child health services records are the preferred source, for breastfeeding at older ages interview survey data are the preferred source.
The OECD family data base contains data for the proportion of children who were breastfed at least once and those who were exclusively breastfed for 3, 4 and 6 months for different years around 2005. Data are obtained from national HIS.
Definition
