Current status of breast-feeding in Alexandria governorate: A community-based study

Abstract

This study was carried out to provide baseline data for various indicators measuring breast-feeding and bottle-feeding practices in Alexandria. In 1995, a total of 1080 children aged below 24 months, equally distributed among six age groups, were selected for a household 24-hour dietary survey. The findings indicated that only 42.2% of infants below 4 months were currently exclusively breast-fed, while 21.1% were predominantly breast-fed. Hence, the rate of breast-feeding was 63.3%. The prevalence rate of timely complementary feeding was 62.3%. Continued breast-feeding rate at 1 year was 64.4%, and at 2 years was 33.9%. The bottle-feeding rate (among infants less than 12 months) was 44.3%.