The World Health Organisation and the World Bank have pulled together statistics from various countries to form a picture of what breastfeeding looks like across the globe (though they’ve had to settle for roughly matched time frames between countries), and to note trends in length of time people breastfeed for. It is important to note when looking at the stats that they are indicative only – there can be a number of years between data collection between countries, and research methodology varies widely.
Across the world, UNICEF reports less than half (just 42 percent) of newborns are put to the breast within one hour of birth, and regional averages range from a high of 56 percent across Eastern and Southern Africa to a low of 39 percent in South Asia. They report considerable differences in breastfeeding initiation among mothers both across and within regions. For example, in South Asia, children born in the richest households are more likely to be breastfed within one hour of birth than those in the poorest households. However, the opposite is true in the Middle East and North Africa, East Asia, the Pacific nations, Latin America and the Caribbean, where wealthier households choose bottle feeding ahead of breast.
First, the good news
When it comes to percentage of children who have “ever” been breastfed, Australia doesn’t do too poorly, clocking in with a reasonable 92 percent. This is in comparison to countries with higher rates, including Norway (99 percent), Denmark (98 percent), Sweden (97.6 percent) and Iceland (97 percent). Countries with lower rates include the U.K (77 percent), U.S (74.2 percent), Belgium (65.9 percent) and France (63 percent).
The not-so-good news about breastfeeding in Australia
At a global level, measuring rates of breastfeeding is not always simple. However, a useful index put together by non-profit organisation and registered charity Save the Children, the Breastfeeding Policy Scorecard for Developed Countries, creates rankings based on support offered for breastfeeding in the industrialised world. These include issues such as maternity leave laws, right to daily breastfeeding breaks, percentage of hospitals that are baby friendly, state of policy support for the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and breastfeeding practices. So where does Australia fit in? Sadly, we are at number 34 – only just above the bottom of the list, which is the US at 36.
That’s somewhat surprising: after all, with such a high proportion of babies at least being breastfed at some point you would think we could do better. The reason we do so badly is down to our official Department of Health policy. According to Save the Children, that gets a score of just 4.8 out of 10. Adding to our low overall score is the fact that Australian mums have no right to daily nursing breaks – something only six other countries in the list of 36 fail to provide.
So despite Australia’s National Breastfeeding Strategy calling for an “increase in the number of model breastfeeding-friendly workplaces, services and environments”, it seems we still have a way to go.
What do you think could be done to make Australia a more breastfeeding friendly country?
More from Kidspot:
- 8 ways to plan for successful breastfeeding
- How to take care of yourself while breastfeeding
- All about breastfeeding