Abstract
BackgroundOptimal infant and young child feeding practices are crucial to improving the health and nutritional status of children. Bangladesh Breastfeeding Foundation, UNICEF and several other organizations are working in the country for the promotion of healthy feeding practices. This article presents trends in breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices in Bangladesh from 1993–2011, based on data in Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys. The following Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys were studied: BDHS 93–94, BDHS 96–97, BDHS 99–00, BDHS 04, BDHS 07 and BDHS 11. Values of indicators for infant and young child feeding proposed by WHO, along with their 95% confidence intervals, were calculated, and trends were assessed.FindingsAmong the core indicators, early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding under six months, introduction of solid, semi-solid and soft foods, and consumption of iron-rich foods have improved, while continued breastfeeding at one year does not display a statistically significant development. Of the optional indicators, the prevalence of age-appropriate breastfeeding and children ever breastfed improved, while the prevalence of predominant breastfeeding under six months witnessed a decline. Median duration of breastfeeding declined, and there was no change in the other optional indicators (continued breastfeeding at two years and bottle feeding). Developments in the other optional indicators were not statistically significant. The ratings of early initiation of breastfeeding and complementary feeding have gone up from poor to fair, those of exclusive breastfeeding under six months from fair to good, while those of bottle-feeding are fair.ConclusionThe developments in breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices in the country have been considerable, but there is still substantial scope for improvement.
Highlights
Optimal infant and young child feeding practices are crucial to improving the health and nutritional status of children
The proportion of infants in whom breastfeeding was initiated within one hour after birth is as follows: 8.6% (BDHS 93–94), 13.2% (BDHS 96–97), 16.5% (BDHS 99–00), 23.7% (BDHS 04), 41.7% (BDHS 07) and 47.1% (BDHS 11)
Since the percentage of children ever breastfed is below 100% (97.8%), the figure of early initiation had to be adjusted to reflect children who were or were never breastfed, as in the other surveys
Summary
Improving infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices has been identified as a fundamental intervention to deal with the suboptimal nutritional status of children less than five years of age in resource-limited countries [1]. The World Health Organization (WHO) has proposed a set of IYCF indicators for assessing the breastfeeding and complementary feeding status of a population [10]. These have been categorized into eight core, and seven optional indicators. Trends in IYCF practices were assessed using these indicators; while estimates on some were directly reported in the surveys, the others were calculated using available data. Calculations of these indicators are presented in Additional file 1. The actual confidence intervals of the data are expected to be wider
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