what % of woman bf exc till 6 months? dh just asked me

[questionmaster]

said id ask you lot

[WilfSell]

In the UK, it is very few - somewhere between 1-5% but I don't remember - someone will.

In places like Norway it is more like 60% I think...

[WilfSell]

And in Norway, although that figure is for excl BF IIRC, there are many more - perhaps in the 90 percent range, who BF AT ALL to 6 months (ie mixed feeding...)

MUCH MUCH higher than in the UK

[PuppyDogTails]

I would guestimate at about 2%

[WilfSell]

But I'm happy to be put right by someone who knows properly...

[FrannyandZooey]

here are some figures:

"Overall, only 35 per cent of UK babies are being exclusively breastfed at one week, 21 per cent at six weeks, 7 per cent at four months and 3 per cent at five months"

[scorpio1]

3%?

what about mixed, do you know?

[FrannyandZooey]

there's a detailed report from 2000 here

[scorpio1]

thanks

[FrannyandZooey]

I am not gifted at reading charts etc but from that report it seems to say 22% are bf to some extent at 6 months?
can someone check, I am not sure at all I am understanding correctly

[WonderingWhy]

I did, not sure about anyone else!
Ok he had half a strawberry at 5 mo.

The weaning is not going too well, he is still almost entirely bf but am getting a bit worn out myself now...he's nearly one.

[scorpio1]

yep seems right to me, f&z

sorry am bfing 1 hand typing

[Caz10]

wow that is low isn't it?

we are at 5.5mths now and to me it seems like we're only just getting it right - people keep saying well done for getting this far and I sort of say "huh?!" because it doesn't seem like long at all.

[scorpio1]

i want to for 6 months too. am only 6 weeks in though.

[Caz10]

Oh, and can't stop now even if I wanted to as she still won't take a bottle!

Wonder what % of women bf for longer than intended because of that?!!

[whomovedmychocolate]

It took me till 4 months to feel confident as well, I reckon most people quit because they don't have confidence in their abilities to solely be the source of nutrition to their child and they don't get reassurance when they should. I have so many friends who've been told to supplement and it's obviously a slippery slope to giving up for most people when that happens.

[SenoraPostrophe]

you're right that the chart means only 22% of mothers breastfed at all at 6 months - exclusively or otherwise.

That figure is too low imo. and I wonder how much the advice to feed exclusively for 6 months keeps it low? (seeing as there is not really any evidence that exclusive bfing to 6 months in any way affects babies' health in developed countries)

[cmotdibbler]

21% of babies were getting some breastmilk, but under 1% were exclusively fed to 6 months.

[tab1]

my dd is 10 months and still bf, was weaned onto food at 5 months but has never had formula, I want to start her on cows milk at 12 months but not sure how easy the transition will be?

[chocchild]

Don't know about the % but I bf'ed one of my ds's for 6 months, two for for 12 months and my princess dd for 18 months !!!!! exclusively because she just would not have a bottle, beaker, spoon - nothing alien in her mouth. THAT'S 4 YEARS OF MY LIFE BREAST FEEDING!!!

[welliemum]

SP, there most certainly is evidence that exclusive breastfeeding to 6 months protects babies' health.

Here is the link.

This is the Millennium Cohort study ie it's from the UK, and they studied just under 16 000 babies for the first 8 months after birth.

They found that "an estimated 53% of diarrhea hospitalizations could have been prevented each month by exclusive breastfeeding and 31% by partial breastfeeding. Similarly, 27% of lower respiratory tract infection hospitalizations could have been prevented each month by exclusive breastfeeding and 25% by partial breastfeeding."

In other words, exclusive breastfeeding has a profound protective effect against serious infection even in a country with clean water and plenty of good food.

In this population, 1.2% were exclusively bf to 6 months. These babies were born in 2000-2002, just around the time of the WHO expert consultation on exclusive bf to 6 months, so probably the figure is higher now.

[SenoraPostrophe]

welliemum, the data on that link only shows all babies up to 8 months. There is a lot of evidence that exclusive bfing to 4 months is beneficial. They don't give month by month figures, and given the overall stats for exclusive bfing at 4-6 months (which would have been very low in 2000), I doubt the sample was big enough.

there are a couple of studies which show some benefit to bfing exclusively for 6 months in developed countries, but many more which show no benefit

[copingvquietly]

im at 6 months

[welliemum]

SP - the effect was detectable for each month of the babies's lives - ie the "each month" doesn't refer to calendar months but to age. There was no cutoff at 4 months - they couldn't endorse the 6 month advice if that were the case.

1% of 16 000, with that level of significance is enough to show a significant result, but I agree, it's a pity they didn't show those figures specifically.

Sorry, written in great haste, must go, but will try to come back later and discuss more.

[alright]

can i just ask a quick question here, if ive breastfed the whole 6 months of my babys life so far except for a 2oz cup of formula on the first night of hospital coz my milk hadnt come in and i didnt understand why my baby was crying all the time, i was in a right state off my head on the drugs id had and the midwife fed it to him, she never told me to keep on offering him the breast does this mean my LO isnt exclusuvely breastfed?

[alright]

of course it isnt exclusive, sorry being thick. duh.