BIBLIOGRAPHIC INPUT SHEET TEMPORARY Patterns of mortality ...

ChapterXIII. Breast Feeding
271
Fia. 137. Percentage of Infant Deaths from Nutritional
Deficiency as Underlying or Associated
Cause According to Breast Feeding; in Two Age
Groups, in 13 Latin American Projects Combined,
0 20 PERCENT
AO 60 0 20
FEECENT
BR20AST FED0 40 60
0T 06 '
s
started, continued breast feeding offered no
apparent protection. "Giving these babies
other [supplemental] foods, however,
seemed to improve their chances of staying
alive. Death rates in tie second and third
ivi W 8 DAY
Ol NOIN at
M I..H.
106 .....
1il OIC "
trimesters were about 70 per cent higher
for bottle-fed infants receiving no additional
foods than for those on a broader
diet."
Such studies of communities are providing
a measure of the excessive mortality among
infants who do not receive
life.
receive
sufficient
Mothers
breast
supplebreast
milk in
fed
the
their
first
children
mon
forfidnsothIveiginarrvalg
of mental foods once weaning is started. The
an average (median) duration of 26 nmnths. findings of the Investigation are revealing
(edia) an aerae draton o 26monhsthe limited extent of breast feeding in most
.. . At two months after birth, 25 per cent
of mothers had started to give their children
milk of animal origin as a supplement, 50
per cent by bimoinhs six mnonths, and ad 75 7pplerent, per cent by
10 months .... Delay in starting solid food
was associated with a greatly increased risk
of death." They further stated that "although
all had essentially the same infection,
hilren te mre eredepive of
tions, the more children were deprived of
adequate food the more frequently they
died." Also, "between the ages of 12 and
18 months the few children taking solid
fod but no longer receiving breast milk had
i higher death rate than children receiving
breast milk and food. This suggests the
importance of high-quality protein as part
of the diet at these ages."
Plank and Milanesi (1973) studied infant
feeding practices in 15 rural Chilean communities
and found that once weaning was
areas in Latin America and the high lroportion
of deaths from diarheal disease and
nutritional i gltl deficiency rn ratik among infants f m raiyi receiv­
ing little or no breast milk. If mortality is
to be reduced and the health of survivors
protected, adequate food supplies must be
made
In e
available.
uai nal pu
In the educational programs undertaken
by health personnel major emphasis should
be placed on the importance of mother's
milk to the health of the child. Action at the
community level to encourage breast feeding,
with the active participation of organized
groups and of health authorities, is an
urgent need in developing areas. Mothers
in those areas should be made to realize that
breast feeding their young infants is vital
for the child's survival, and for that reason
should constitute an integral part of effective
reproductive function.