BREASTFEEDING
Definition
This topic refers to breastfeeding and focuses on duration of breastfeeding and ages at which foods other than breast milk were introduced into the infant's regular diet.
Population
Information was collected for children aged 0-3 years (that is, children up to 3 years and 11 months of age) (via proxy) in the 2014-15 NHS. Certain data items were only collected for children aged 0-24 months of age as outlined below.
Guidelines
The World Health Organisation and the National Health and Medical Research Council recommend exclusive breastfeeding until around 6 months of age. Exclusive breastfeeding is defined as feeding the child only breast milk. This can include milk expressed from the mother, from a wet nurse or from a breast milk donor.
Methodology
Information about breastfeeding was first published in Health Service Usage and Health related Actions, Australia, 2014-15.
The following questions were designed to enable measurement of breastfeeding, including exclusive breastfeeding.
The child's proxy (preferably, but not necessarily, the child's mother) was initially asked if the child (aged 0-3 years) had ever received breast milk.
If yes, and the child was aged 0-24 months, the proxy was asked whether the child was currently receiving breast milk.
For those children aged 0-24 months and currently receiving breast milk, the proxy was asked:
- Whether the child had ever had any food or drink other than breast milk (to determine whether the child is 'exclusively' breast fed)
- If yes, the age of the child when he/she first had any food or drink other than breast milk (to determine how old the child was when any other sustenance/nutrition was introduced to their diet, i.e. liquids (drink) and foods)
The following examples of other food or drink were provided on a prompt card:
- Infant formula products
- Soft or semi-soft foods (baby food)
- Biscuits
- Water
- Cow's milk
- Goat's milk
- Soy milk
- Other cereal based milks - Oat, rice, almond etc.
- Yoghurt based food or drink
- Cordial (water based drinks) or soft drink
- Fruit juice
- Tea or coffee
If the child was aged 0- 24 months and not currently receiving breast milk, the proxy was asked:
- The age of the child when he/she stopped receiving any breast milk (to establish how long (in months) the child received any breast milk, in order to assess against the guidelines)
- The age of the child when he/she first had any food or drink other than breast milk (to determine how old the child was when any other sustenance/nutrition was introduced to their diet, i.e. liquids (drink) and foods).
Lastly, the proxy was asked the age at which the child first ate any soft, semi-solid or solid food (excluding those children aged 0-24 months who were still being exclusively breastfed) (is specifically asking about food as opposed to any other nutritional source).
Data items
The questionnaire,
data items and related output categories for this topic are available in pdf/Excel spreadsheet format from the
Downloads page of this product.
Interpretation
Points to be considered in interpreting data for this topic include the following:
- Information is 'as reported' by the child's proxy. No analysis has been undertaken regarding accuracy of reported data, and whether accuracy of recall declines as a child gets older.
- Accuracy of the data may be affected in cases where an adult other than the child's parent responded for the child.
Comparability with 2011-12
The population of interest
for breastfeeding was changed between 2011-12 and 2014-15 for most data items from children aged 0-3 years, to children aged 0-24 months. Data for 'Whether ever received breast milk' and 'Age first ate any soft or semi solid or solid food' are comparable to 2011-12 for all persons 0-3 years old. Data for 'Currently receiving breast milk' and 'Age stopped receiving any breast milk' are comparable between 2011-12 and 2014-15, but only for children aged 0-24 months.
Exclusive breastfeeding data items are not comparable to 2011-12. Firstly, they were only asked of those aged 0-24 months of age. Secondly, while the 2011-12 questionnaire included separate and specific probing about water, fruit juices and other liquids, the 2014-15 questionnaire included these items on a prompt card only for those aged 0-24 months who were currently receiving breast milk (i.e. not those aged 0-24 months who had stopped receiving breast milk).
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