PART 3: CHILDREN'S OUTCOMES - HEALTH
Breastfeeding Practice
Breastfed babies show better outcomes in neurological and cognitive development, and lower levels of infections, obesity and allergies than those who are not breastfed. The optimum research-based recommendation to maximise the health benefits of breastfeeding is exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months and continued breastfeeding thereafter in combination with nutritious complementary foods for up to 2 years of age or beyond. 30
Measure
The percentage of infants who are (a) exclusively breastfed and
(b) who are partially breastfed on discharge from hospital.
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Key findings
- In 2005, the percentage of infants breastfed (exclusive or combined) on discharge from hospital was 47.5%; this includes 43.8% who were exclusively breastfed and a further 3.7% who were being fed using a combination of bottle and breastfeeding (see Table 46).
- The percentage of infants who were breastfed continues to increase annually. In 2001, the percentage of infants breastfed (exclusively or combined) on discharge from hospital was 41.3%; this includes 38.8% who were exclusively breastfed and a further 2.5% who were being fed using a combination of bottle and breastfeeding.
Table 46: Percentage of infants who are breastfed, exclusively (exclus.)
or combined (comb.)
on discharge from hospital, by mothers' age groups (2001-2005)
| 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | ||||||
| Age | Exclus. | Comb. | Exclus. | Comb. | Exclus. | Comb. | Exclus. | Comb. | Exclus. | Comb. |
| <15 years | 8.3 | 0.0 | 20.0 | 0.0 | 21.4 | 0.0 | 20.0 | 0.0 | 33.3 | 0.0 |
| 15-19 years | 18.1 | 1.7 | 19.5 | 1.4 | 19.5 | 1.8 | 20.1 | 2.4 | 22.1 | 2.3 |
| 20-24 years | 27.1 | 2.1 | 30.4 | 2.1 | 30.6 | 2.7 | 29.7 | 2.5 | 32.4 | 2.9 |
| 25-29 years | 36.9 | 2.7 | 39.6 | 3.5 | 40.3 | 4.0 | 41.0 | 3.6 | 41.9 | 3.8 |
| 30-34 years | 43.8 | 2.6 | 44.8 | 2.8 | 44.6 | 3.9 | 45.5 | 3.5 | 47.4 | 3.9 |
| 35-39 years | 46.3 | 2.8 | 47.7 | 2.7 | 46.9 | 3.3 | 48.8 | 3.3 | 49.2 | 3.7 |
| 40-44 years | 45.4 | 2.6 | 47.7 | 2.6 | 47.0 | 3.8 | 49.5 | 3.4 | 51.0 | 4.1 |
| > 45 years | 44.3 | 1.3 | 44.1 | 2.9 | 47.9 | 9.9 | 56.5 | 3.2 | 44.4 | 6.2 |
| Age not stated | 31.6 | 0.0 | 32.0 | 0.0 | 47.1 | 3.9 | 27.9 | 0.8 | 28.9 | 2.2 |
| Total | 38.8 | 2.5 | 40.9 | 2.8 | 41.0 | 3.5 | 42.1 | 3.3 | 43.8 | 3.7 |
Source: National Perinatal Reporting System, ESRI
Differences by age and social class
- Although 33.3% of mothers under 15 years exclusively breastfed in 2005, these numbers are likely to be very small. With the exception of those aged 45 and over, there is an increase in the percentage of mothers who exclusively breastfeed with each corresponding increase in age group, from 22.1% in those aged 15-19 to 51% in those aged 40-44 (see Table 46).
- There are marked social class differences (see Figure 18). A larger percentage of mothers in higher and lower professional groups (70.9% and 67.8% respectively) breastfeed compared with mothers who report to be semi-skilled manual workers or unemployed (29.8% and 30.3% respectively).
Figure 18: Percentage of infants who are breastfed (either exclusively or combined) on discharge from hospital, by mothers' occupation (2005)*
* Occupation categories where percentages are based on less than 100 births have been omitted from this figure (i.e. 'Unskilled Manual Workers', 'Other Agricultural Occupations and Fishermen' and 'Farmers and Farm Managers').
Source: National Perinatal Reporting System, ESRI
Differences by geographical area
- Geographic differences are also apparent. In 2005, the percentage of mothers exclusively breastfeeding their infants on discharge from hospital ranged from 54.9% in Dublin County to 27.8% in Donegal (see Table 47).
Table 47: Mother's county of residence, by infant's type of feeding (2005)
| County | Artificial | Breast | Combined | Not stated | Total | ||||
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | No. | |
| Carlow | 491 | 60.1 | 318 | 38.9 | 6 | 0.7 | 2 | 0.2 | 817 |
| Cavan | 490 | 56.6 | 358 | 41.3 | 17 | 2.0 | 1 | 0.1 | 866 |
| Clare | 972 | 60.6 | 592 | 36.9 | 38 | 2.4 | 2 | 0.1 | 1,604 |
| Cork | 3,603 | 52.0 | 3,090 | 44.6 | 224 | 3.2 | 9 | 0.1 | 6,926 |
| Donegal | 1,263 | 63.8 | 551 | 27.8 | 161 | 8.1 | 5 | 0.3 | 1,980 |
| Dublin | 6,310 | 48.8 | 6,148 | 47.5 | 450 | 3.5 | 25 | 0.2 | 12,933 |
| Dublin County | 1,858 | 41.3 | 2,471 | 54.9 | 166 | 3.7 | 9 | 0.2 | 4,504 |
| Galway | 1,553 | 47.2 | 1,340 | 40.7 | 396 | 12.0 | 1 | 0.0 | 3,290 |
| Kerry | 903 | 52.1 | 766 | 44.2 | 63 | 3.6 | 3 | 0.2 | 1,735 |
| Kildare | 1,591 | 49.7 | 1,497 | 46.8 | 106 | 3.3 | 5 | 0.2 | 3,199 |
| Kilkenny | 565 | 50.8 | 545 | 49.0 | 3 | 0.3 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,113 |
| Laois | 480 | 51.7 | 421 | 45.4 | 27 | 2.9 | 0 | 0.0 | 928 |
| Leitrim | 203 | 55.2 | 145 | 39.4 | 18 | 4.9 | 2 | 0.5 | 368 |
| Limerick | 1,760 | 68.3 | 776 | 30.1 | 36 | 1.4 | 4 | 0.2 | 2,576 |
| Longford | 262 | 53.3 | 214 | 43.5 | 15 | 3.1 | 1 | 0.2 | 492 |
| Louth | 839 | 52.7 | 700 | 44.0 | 50 | 3.1 | 3 | 0.2 | 1,592 |
| Mayo | 909 | 53.1 | 709 | 41.4 | 91 | 5.3 | 4 | 0.2 | 1,713 |
| Meath | 1,351 | 49.6 | 1,284 | 47.1 | 82 | 3.0 | 7 | 0.3 | 2,724 |
| Monaghan | 400 | 55.6 | 297 | 41.3 | 22 | 3.1 | 1 | 0.1 | 720 |
| Offaly | 571 | 57.0 | 421 | 42.0 | 10 | 1.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,002 |
| Roscommon | 349 | 52.6 | 296 | 44.7 | 18 | 2.7 | 0 | 0.0 | 663 |
| Sligo | 458 | 61.2 | 247 | 33.0 | 41 | 5.5 | 3 | 0.4 | 749 |
| Tipperary NR | 393 | 63.9 | 215 | 35.0 | 5 | 0.8 | 2 | 0.3 | 615 |
| Tipperary SR | 924 | 60.8 | 582 | 38.3 | 10 | 0.7 | 5 | 0.3 | 1,521 |
| Waterford | 851 | 52.3 | 747 | 45.9 | 27 | 1.7 | 2 | 0.1 | 1,627 |
| Westmeath | 672 | 52.8 | 585 | 46.0 | 13 | 1.0 | 3 | 0.2 | 1,273 |
| Wexford | 1,217 | 59.9 | 701 | 34.5 | 108 | 5.3 | 6 | 0.3 | 2,032 |
| Wicklow | 946 | 49.7 | 906 | 47.6 | 46 | 2.4 | 4 | 0.2 | 1,902 |
| Other | 4 | 36.4 | 6 | 54.6 | 1 | 9.1 | 0 | 0.0 | 11 |
| Not stated | 4 | 80.0 | 1 | 20.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 5 |
| Total | 32,192 | 52.4 | 26,929 | 43.8 | 2,250 | 3.6 | 109 | 0.18 | 61,480 |
Source:National Perinatal Reporting System, ESRI
Technical notes
The National Perinatal Reporting System (NPRS) dataset provides details of national statistics on perinatal events (live births, late foetal deaths or still births). Information on every birth that occurs either in hospital or at home is returned to the NPRS. The information collected includes data on pregnancy outcomes, with particular reference to perinatal mortality and important aspects of perinatal care. The period to which the information applies is from 22 weeks' gestation to the first week of life. In addition, descriptive social and biological characteristics of mothers giving birth and their babies are recorded. The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) is contracted by the Department of Health and Children to manage the NPRS system.
Data on 'type of feeding' provide important information on breastfeeding rates in Ireland. Type of feeding is recorded as either (1) artificial, (2) breast or (3) combined. The NPRS applies the WHO definition for exclusive breastfeeding to (2) above. Hospitals are requested to record the type of feeding at discharge (at approximately 3-4 days) from hospital.
