The One Best Way?: Breastfeeding History, Politics, and Policy in Canada

Appendix E: National Surveys of Breastfeeding Practices

Appendix E 219 Appendix E: National Surveys of Breastfeeding Practices All surveys of breastfeeding practices have relied on self-reported information. The federal government has collected national data on breastfeeding since the 1970s. Year of data collection Sample Data collected Source 1963–82 Nine cross-sectional studies – mail-out questionnaire sent to mothers with infants under 6 months of age 1963–79 – mothers selected from women answering ads in a popular baby magazine (readership = 10% of total births) 1980–82 – mothers who applied for a baby gift through a retail outlet (represent 30% of yearly births) Response Rate 54–88%; weighted sample Initiation and duration of breastfeeding up to 6 months Measured types of milk fed to baby at the hospital and at each month during the first six months: breast-milk, commercial infant formula, cow’s milk (skim, 2%, whole) Years: 1963, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982 McNally, Hendricks, and Horowitz 1985 1965–71 Retrospective data for 1965–1971, collected during the Nutrition Canada Survey (1970–72) 1965–71: Mothers with children under the age of six 1970–1972: Infants under the age of one 1965–71 Was/is the child breastfed? Age at which breastfeeding was discontinued? Was/is the child bottle-fed? Age at which bottlefeeding started? Age at which bottlefeeding discontinued Age at which non-milk foods were started 1970–72 Food consumption of infants under the age of 1 – 24 h dietary recall – type and quantity of milk, use of vitamin/mineral supplements Myres 1979a Appendix E continues Appendices 220 Appendix E: National Surveys of Breastfeeding Practices, continued Year of data collection Sample Data collected Source 1982 Questionnaire mailed to 18,000 nationally representative households: sample of all mothers with children under the age of two; results weighted according to StatsCan estimates Percentage of mothers starting breastfeeding Duration of breastfeeding Milk and formula supplementation for breastfed babies Duration of formula feeding and supplementation type Health and Welfare Canada 1985 1983 Longitudinal data of Aboriginal people across Canada (including the territories and excluding Quebec) All Aboriginal infants born in 1983 and receiving services from Medical Services Branch (data also includes entire population in NWT and Yukon, as they receive medical care from MSB) Response rate: 75% Infant feeding from birth to six months – breastfeeding, supplementary bottles, formula Stewart and Steckle 1987 1994/95 National Population Health Survey (NPHS) – surveyed mothers with one or more children under the age of 5 – results for youngest child only National Longitudinal Study on Children and Youth (NLSCY) – children aged 0–23 months at time of survey BF Initiation = proportion of women who report breastfeeding their child (not necessarily exclusively), regardless of duration. Based on women who were currently breastfeeding or had done so at the time of the survey BF Duration = total length of time the infant was breastfed (not necessarily exclusively). Based on women who had completed bf at the time of the survey. Health Canada 1998d Appendix E 221 Appendix E: National Surveys of Breastfeeding Practices, continued Year of data collection Sample Data collected Source 1994–99 NLSCY Biennial – 2-year intervals (1994–95, 1996–97, 1998–99) Breastfeeding Initiation= percentage of children under 2 years of age whose mother chose to breastfeed Breastfeeding duration= percentage of children over 2 years of age whose mother reported breastfeeding 3 months or more Dzakpasu 2003 Statistics Canada 2001a 2003 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) National sample of 7,266 women aged 15–55 who had a baby in the previous five years (weighted to represent 1.4 million women in 10 provinces) Breastfeeding initiation= “Did you breastfeed or try to breastfeed your baby, even if only for a short time?” Breastfeeding duration= “For how long did you breastfeed?” Duration of exclusive breastfeeding = length of time before the introduction of solid foods or other liquids Millar and Maclean 2005 ...