Breast-feeding in Spain

Abstract

Human milk is the best way to nurture the human infant. By breast-feeding their babies, mothers provide them with the best opportunities to wholly develop their potential, while protecting the infants and themselves from a whole range of diseases in the near future and in the years to come. Even though these benefits are widely known and there is ample scientific evidence on the topic, it seems from published data that Spanish women are not breastfeeding their babies as much and for as long as they should. Less than 90% start breast-feeding, at 1 month there is already an attrition of 30%, at 3 months more than half of the infants are taking artificial milk and by 6 months only 10% continue to breast-feed their infants. Low birth weight, Caesarean section and low study level are among the more significant factors that negatively affect breast-feeding. There is still work to do to improve this situation. Promotion of breast-feeding among the general population, mothers and health professionals is needed.

Breast‐feeding Duration

“…Proportions are similar to the ones reported in earlier studies (9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14), indicating that breast-feeding promotion efforts have not been effective in rising breast-feeding proportions so far. Breast-feeding duration is related to social background.…”

Becoming baby‐friendly in Spain: a quality‐improvement process

“…In 1997, the ABF rates were typical of those usually found in infants born in non‐accredited Spanish hospitals (22,23). The year after BFHI designation, the duration of breastfeeding at the VCH was still below the desired duration according to international recommendations, but was clearly higher in comparison with the initial situation.…”

“…In this study, we compared breastfeeding rates in two different periods without a control group, and it is therefore not possible to reach definite conclusions about the effectiveness of the BFHI. Some of the effects that were found could be because of the secular trend that exists in Spain (22,23) and elsewhere in Europe (24) towards an improvement in breastfeeding rates or other factors not controlled during the intervention. Nevertheless, the increase in breastfeeding rates in the VCH stands out within a national context; increments in breastfeeding rates of <10% have been reported in Spain in the last 20 years (3,22,25).…”

Lactancia materna: Preguntas más frecuentes

“…A los 6 meses, tan solo entre un 7-28% de madres alimentan a sus hijos al pecho [4][5][6][7][8][9][10] , cifras que están lejos de las recomendaciones de la OMS 11 . Tan solo existen 14 hospitales IHAN, que cumplen con el decálogo de los "10 pasos para una lactancia feliz", y la formación de los profesionales y de los residentes de Pediatría [12][13][14][15][16][17][18] es deficiente.…”