Women Breastfeeding Infants Longer in Many Developing Countries

Abstract

Findings on breast feeding practices and trends are presented for developing countries. Analysis is based on data from World Fertility Surveys during the late 1970s and Demographic and Health Surveys during the 1980s for the following countries: Egypt Ghana Kenya Morocco Senegal Tunisia Indonesia Sri Lanka Thailand Colombia the Dominican Republic Ecuador Mexico Peru and Trinidad and Tobago. The mean duration of breast feeding rose significantly in Colombia the Dominican Republic Ecuador Ghana Kenya Peru and Trinidad and Tobago. The range of the increase was from 0.8 months in the Dominican Republic to 4.2 months in Trinidad and Tobago. Significant declines in breast feeding occurred in Thailand (2.6 months) and Morocco (1.1 months). Indonesia and Sri Lanka had the longest mean breast feeding durations of respectively 26.7 and 23.2 months. Changes in socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of population led to decreases in the mean duration of breast feeding of up to 2.4 months in all countries with the exception of Ghana and Trinidad and Tobago. However behavioral changes compensated in part for the influence of socioeconomic factors. Latin American countries had the largest increases in mean breast feeding duration due to behavioral factors. In other countries the impact of behavioral factors was more variable. The author suggests that continued promotion of breast feeding will be necessary in order to counteract the socioeconomic shifts that contribute to declines in breast feeding duration. In all countries urban children were breast fed for shorter intervals. Higher income womens use of the pill and short birth intervals decreased the likelihood of longer breast feeding duration. Population shifts in contraceptive use urbanization and educational status were expected to result in declines in breast feeding.