Breastfeeding

A source for evidence-based information about the safety or risk of drugs, chemicals and disease during pregnancy and lactation.

At the 1990 World Summit for Children, it was stated that more than a million infant deaths could have been avoided if infants had been exclusively breastfed for six months (UNICEF, 1995). Three of the four most important threats to survival of children in South Africa are diarrhoeal disease, acute respiratory infection, and malnutrition (UNICEF, 1993). Failure to breastfeed has been linked to all these health problems.

Mothers and children in South Africa are dying in alarming numbers. Far from being on track to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of reducing child mortality by two-thirds, the country is among only a dozen worldwide where child deaths are rising.

The Good Start Study was a prospective cohort study of 665 HIV positive women who attended routine PMTCT services. The women and infants were followed for 36 weeks after birth with data collection during home visits every 2 weeks until 12 weeks and then monthly until 9 months. At each scheduled visit infant feeding practices were recorded through 24 hour and previous 3 day recall. The study was undertaken in three sites Paarl (Western Cape), Umzimkulu (Eastern Cape) and Umlazi (KwaZulu-Natal). Sites were selected to highlight differences in socio-economic regions, health infra-structure, rural-urban locations, and HIV prevalence.

The Good Start Study was a prospective cohort study of 665 HIV positive women who attended routine PMTCT services. The women and infants were followed for 36 weeks after birth with data collection during home visits every 2 weeks until 12 weeks and then monthly until 9 months. At each scheduled visit infant feeding practices were recorded through 24 hour and previous 3 day recall. The study was undertaken in three sites Paarl (Western Cape), Umzimkulu (Eastern Cape) and Umlazi (KwaZulu-Natal). Sites were selected to highlight differences in socio-economic regions, health infra-structure, rural-urban locations, and HIV prevalence.

Two-month-old Banele Dlamini awakes from a deep slumber and sucks hungrily at a bottle of formula proffered by his HIV-positive mother. Humming as she boils water in a kettle for his next feed, Zelda Dlamini says she is grateful to health workers in Soweto for telling her to avoid breast-feeding to ensure she does not pass the virus to the infant.

[LOS ANGELES] The benefits of breastfeeding outweigh the risks of virus transmission from HIV-positive mothers to their children, according to studies conducted in four African nations.

Avoiding transmission of HIV from mother to child after birth has become one of the greatest challenges in HIV prevention. Approaches to date to reduce or prevent postnatal transmission through breastfeeding have included the avoidance of all breastfeeding through the use of exclusive replacement feeds, or exclusive breastfeeding for a limited duration with early and rapid cessation of breastfeeding as soon as it is feasible.