What % of children are bf until their 2nd birthday?

[Winterclause]

Does anyone know?!

We were having a discussion today and I thought about 10% but my friend thought it was about 1%!

We did google but couldn't find anything specific to the uk!

I'd be surprised if it's as high as 1%, I thought that was the number of babies exclusively bf to 6 months.

I would be staggered if it is 10% - at 2 years old!

In the UK? I would estimate 0.01%

Don't know exactly but it will be significantly less than 1%. As Shoom says, think about 1% bf until 6 mnths.

No I think the 1% at 6 months is ebf. So if your baby has had any sort of solid food before then they are then not classes as ebf! I think at least 25-30% of babies are still getting breastmilk at 6 months?

We did blw from about 22 weeks so although my baby never had any other milk but bm by 6 months she wouldn't have been in that 1%!

Good question and difficult to find a definitive answer. Globally it seems to be around 50% of human babies are still being breastfed at 2 years- many for a lot longer.

Thinking of the 10 small children I know of from my immediate social/family circle:
All were breastfed to some extent
I think only one, if any, was ebf at 6 months
9 were breastfed at 3 months
5 were breastfed at 6 months
4 were breastfed at 12 months
2 were breastfed at 18 months
1 was breastfed at 2 years

I don't know how representative that sample is though!

Agree with you OP that "EBF" isn't a very good indication of how much breastfeeding is actually going on (probably even less so globally) as almost everyone I know, even the most enthusiastic breastfeeders, gave their baby some other kind of milk or food before 6 months.

Attyestroke- yes we found 50-75% in some countries but we were debating about the uk!

It's just curiosity really! Out of our group of 10 , 4 of us are still bf at 18m +. We just couldn't find any uk numbers for anything over 12 months..

Data is not collected for children being breastfed over 12 months- not through the UNICEF & Office for National Statistics.
The data collection programme stops at 12 months.

Unicef feeding survey stops at 8-10 months, so I'm not even sure if the stats are collected. But since 12% are feeding at 4 months, presumably that removes the weaning not counting as ebf.

King what about the WHO recommendation of feeding for 2 years?

Everyone has typed faster than me!

I would imagine very few. Dd fed until 15 months, which was the longest of anyone I knew. Ds currently still feeding at almost 15 months, no sign of home wanting to stop but I can't quote see it carrying on until 2 (not least because one nipple keeps getting very sore!)

I think the recommendations to breastfeed exclusively until 6 months have led to a lot of confusion, with most people seeming to aim to breastfeed until 6 months (not realising it isn't referred to as exclusive beyond that due to solids)

The department of health used to collect breastfeeding stats, its now nhs england. Two point are collected - initiation and 6-8 weeks. In england thats all there is but that will hopefully improve.

I'm almost the only person I know IRL who's bf past two years (and I've done so twice) and I have a lot of relatively militant bf type friends. The only other is a BFC and trainee HV.

What questions come up in the Infant Feeding Survey? I can't remember if they even asked.

IIRC the categories go up to "1 year +"

Seen other posts now.

A 52w maternity leave supports 6m ebf but does interfere with extended breastfeeding. A lot of nursing strikes in the second year are misinterpreted as self-weaning by exhausted mothers dragged in eight directions at once, who are secretly glad to be putting away the clicky bras for a bit.

What does the "at birth" refer to? Does it mean that you offer the breast or that actually the sole sustenance is from breastmilk for the first few days.

Thinking about my NCT group of 9, I think it would have been something along the lines of:

9 "at birth"
7 at 6 weeks
6 at 3 months (although 2 were offering breast and formula)
4 at 6 months
3 at 12 months
1 at 18 months
0 at 24 months

At 14 months my DD was down to one feed a day (at night) and had completely dropped that by 15 months. I had actually wanted to keep it up over the winter until she was 18 months, but yes I was relieved to stop. I don't feel bad about it.

I think "at birth" means "first feed". It was certainly recorded in my delivery notes.

How do they know though?

I have BF-ed DC2 and DC3 beyond age 2. But I will not be in any stats because no one (GP, HV) has asked me.

100% in this house

At birth mean initiation of breastfeeding, ie even one feed.

I have seen hundreds of women feeding two, three four and five year olds, but I am a retired LLL counsellor so definitely not a representative sample- as most of that was within toddler breastfeeding support groups!