National Breastfeeding Indicators

The Australian Institute of Health & Welfare has released National Breastfeeding Indicators, a report presenting the outcomes of a consensus workshop held in December last year. The purpose of the workshop was to make decisions on a set of breastfeeding indicators that would support the reporting of national breastfeeding trends, and thereby the evaluation of the Australian National Breastfeeding Strategy 2010–2015 and related policies and programs.  A set of draft  indicators was discussed for suitability, stability, simplicity and measurability and the following set was agreed:

• proportion of children ever breastfed (for children aged 0–24 months)
• proportion of children breastfed at each month of age, 0–24 months
• proportion of children exclusively breastfed to each month of age, 0–6 months
• proportion of children predominantly breastfed to each month of age, 0–6 months
• proportion of children receiving soft/semi-solid/solid food at each month of age, 0–12 months
• proportion of children receiving non-human milk or formula at each month of age, 0–12 months.