Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Mar 24:10:1058134.
doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1058134. eCollection 2023.

Estimating the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding with data from household surveys: Measurement issues and options

Thomas W Pullum  1 , Karleen Gribble  2 , Seema Mihrshahi  3 , Bindi Borg  3
Affiliations

Estimating the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding with data from household surveys: Measurement issues and options

Thomas W Pullum et al. Front Nutr. .

Abstract

The importance of breastfeeding for infant and maternal health is well established. The World Health Organization recommends that all infants be exclusively breastfed until they reach 6 months of age. The standard indicator to measure adherence to this criterion is the percentage of children aged 0-5 months who are currently being exclusively breastfed. This paper proposes supplementary measures that are easily calculated with existing survey data. First, for an accurate assessment of the WHO recommendation, we estimate the percentage of infants who are being exclusively breastfed at the exact age of 6 months. Second, an adjustment is proposed for prelacteal feeding. These two modifications, separately and in combination, are applied to data from 31 low-and middle-income countries that have participated in the Demographic and Health Surveys Program since 2015. There is considerable variation in the effects across countries. The modifications use existing data to provide a more accurate estimate than the standard indicator of the achievement of the exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months recommendation.

Keywords: IYCF indicators; WHO EBF recommendation; demographic and health survey data; exclusive breastfeeding; infant feeding.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) Prevalence of EBF in the age interval 0–5 months and (B). Prevalence at exact ages in months.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Prevalence of EBF in age interval 0–5 months (31 DHS surveys conducted since 2015).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Prevalence of EBF at exact ages in months, namely (A). Exactly 3 months, (B). Exactly 4 months, (C). Exactly 5 months, and (D). Exactly 6 months (31 DHS surveys conducted since 2015).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Prevalence of EBF at exact age 6 months compared with the unadjusted prevalence at age 0–5 months (31 DHS surveys conducted since 2015).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Prevalence of EBF at age 0–5 months, adjusted for prelacteal feeding, compared with the unadjusted prevalence at age 0–5 months (31 DHS surveys conducted since 2015).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Prevalence of EBF at exact age 6 months, adjusted for prelacteal feeding, compared with the unadjusted prevalence at age 0–5 months (31 DHS surveys conducted since 2015).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Lamberti LM, Fischer Walker CL, Noiman A, Victora C, Black RE. Breastfeeding and the risk for diarrhea morbidity and mortality. BMC Public Health. (2011) 11:S15–5. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-11-S3-S15 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lamberti LM, Zakarija-Grković I, Fischer Walker CL, Theodoratou E, Nair H, Campbell H, et al. . Breastfeeding for reducing the risk of pneumonia morbidity and mortality in children under two: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis. BMC Public Health. (2013) 13:S18–8. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-13-S3-S18 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Victora CGP, Bahl R, Barros AJD, França GVA, Horton S, Krasevec J, et al. . Breastfeeding in the 21st century: epidemiology, mechanisms, and lifelong effect. Lancet. (2016) 387:475–90. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)01024-7 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Adetola LJ, Stuebe A. Long-term maternal benefits of breastfeeding. Contemporary OB/GYN. (2018) 63:26–9.
    1. Adetola LJ, Stuebe A. Enabling breastfeeding to support lifelong health for mother and child. Obstet Gynecol Clin N Am. (2020) 47:363–81. doi: 10.1016/j.ogc.2020.04.001 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources