Number of breastfed babies reduced
By Naila Huseynli
Breastfeeding is one of the most effective ways of nourishment for infants’ health and only 40 percent of infants under six months of age are exclusively breastfed globally.
In Azerbaijan, the number of breastfed infants has dropped in the recent years. In 2017, 89,700 babies are fed breast milk for up to 3 months.
The number of breastfed babies in 2005 was 30,500 and this number reached to 95,200 in 2016. Moreover, in 2016, 63,000 babies, and in 2017, 60,500 babies are only breastfed.
In 2010, only 50 percent of children less than one year of age in Azerbaijan's regions were fed breast milk. In Baku the figure was 45-48 percent, according to the Director of Scientific Research Pediatrics Institute Nasib Guliyev.s
Last year, 69,700 babies up to 6 months of age (73,900 in 2016) were breastfed, and only 41,300 of them (41,500 in 2016) were only fed breast milk.
In Azerbaijan, 55,400 babies are breastfed for up to 12 months, 16,800 infants are fed breast milk till the age 1.5, the number of 2 years old breastfed babies are 7,800.
UNICEF office in Azerbaijan also reports that only two in 10 babies born in Azerbaijan are breastfed in the first hour of life. The country is also among the few countries with less than 20 percent of children receiving early initiation of breastfeeding.
The report, which analyzes data from 76 countries, says that breastfed babies at the first hour after birth are significantly more likely to survive. Approximately, 28 million babies around the world (three in five) are not breastfed within the first hour. It puts them higher risk of death and disease and makes them less likely continue breastfeeding. Most of these babies are born in low- and middle-income countries, where breastfeeding can save lives.
Moreover, certain restrictions are imposed on advertising of artificial food products in accordance with the law on advertising, as well as, law of nutrition of babies and children at early age.
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