Three in five babies are not breastfed during the first hour of birth, putting them at higher risk of disease or death, according to a joint report by UNICEF and the World Health Organization.
Global health officials are urging greater uptake of breast feeding shortly after birth because it helps boost a baby’s immune system, because breastmilk is rich in nutrients and antibodies. This is considered particularly critical in parts of the world that lack clean water.
“Breastfeeding gives children the best possible start in life,” Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO’s director-general, said in a statement. “We must urgently scale up support to mothers – be it from family members, health care workers, employers and governments, so they can give their children the start they deserve.”
Officials in the report urge governments to restrict marketing of infant formula and other breastmilk substitutes. The report comes shortly after news reports suggested the Trump administration sided with formula companies to try to defeat a resolution at a United Nations health assembly calling on governments to “protect, promote, and support breast-feeding” and limit misleading formula marketing.
U.S. health officials deny the charge, but have said that “there are good and valid reasons, both medical and personal, why some mothers cannot breastfeed, or choose not to breastfeed exclusively.”
The latest report shows that global rates of breastfeeding shortly after birth have risen from 37 percent in 2005 to 42 percent today, but officials said rates must be much higher to improve long-term health outcomes. An estimated 78 million babies a year are not breastfed during the first hour, and if babies aren’t breastfed within the first day they have nearly double the risk of death.
Studies also suggest that breastfeeding boosts brain development and reduces the likelihood of obesity later in life. In mothers, it is associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, as well as breast and ovarian cancer in women who have given birth.
Rates vary in parts of the world. They are highest in Eastern and Southern Africa, at 65 percent, and lowest in East Asia and the Pacific, at 32 percent. Nearly 9 in 10 babies born in Burundi, Sri Lanka, and Vanuatu are breastfed within the first hour, compared with 2 in 10 babies born in Azerbaijan, Chad, and Montenegro.
Certain cultural factors are delaying breastfeeding. For instance, some newborns are first given honey, sugar water, or infant formula. In some parts of the world babies are not placed with their mothers immediately after birth, or they don’t receive instructions about breastfeeding.
“Mothers simply don’t receive enough support to breastfeed within those crucial minutes after birth, even from medical personnel at health facilities,” Henrietta Fore, the executive director at UNICEF, said.
Officials also believe that the rise in elective C-sections is playing a role, because women aren’t prepared to breastfeed shortly after having surgery. Rates of C-sections have climbed from 13 percent in 2005 to 20 percent in 2017, according to the report.
Making changes in these areas could save the lives of more than than 800,000 children under 5 every year, officials estimate.
