Infant feeding practices in St. Vincent and factors which affect them

ABSTRACT

Surveys of one to two-year old children in two towns in St. Vincent in 1975 found that there may have been a slight decline in breastfeeding since the late 1960s. Although lactation failure was rare, supplementary bottle feeding was usually begun during the early weeks of life. Sevrage, the complete cessation of breastfeeding, occurred by seven months of age for half of the children in the sample. One of the major factors leading to early sevrage was probably the introduction of bottle feeding. This may operate through an earlier return of fertility post-partum (and thus "pregnancy" as the reason for weaning), or because the sweet, easily-drained bottle is preferable to the breast for the infant (and thus the baby "weans himself"). While many of the factors influencing current infant feeding practices are now largely of historical interest, such as slavery, others are currently amenable to intervention. These include poor health and nutritional status of mothers, inappropriate advice given by health professionals, and the advertising and promotion of infant foods by their manufacturers and sales persons (AU)