Breast-feeding trend is declining: Official

JAKARTA (JP): Fewer mothers are nursing their babies, despite the national breast-feeding campaign launched by President Soeharto six years ago, an official says.

"The breast-feeding trend is declining," said Benny A. Kodyat, head of the directorate of community nutrition at the Ministry of Health, at a seminar yesterday.

He blamed the decline on the aggressive campaigns of milk formula producers and poor enforcement of laws which are designed to regulate such campaigns.

"The aggressive promotion takes place because of a lack of supervision of laws and decrees," he told participants at a seminar titled "Breast-feeding: A Community Responsibility" held to commemorate World Breast-feeding Week, from Aug.1 to Aug.7.

The seminar was opened by Minister of Health Sujudi and attended by the United Nations Children's Fund Representative for Indonesia, Stephen J. Woodhouse.

In 1992 milk-substitute producers agreed to adhere to government-imposed limitations on the promotion of their products. For instance, they are not allowed to distribute samples to maternity wards.

In the same year, in the hope of promoting breast-feeding, the government issued the Health Law. This threatens violators of the agreement with a maximum of 15 years imprisonment or a fine up to Rp 300 million (US$130,434).

A 1992 survey recorded that 10 percent of children were given breast-milk substitutes within two months of being born.

A 1991 survey revealed that while 97 percent of mothers nursed their children, only 51 percent did so exclusively. The rest gave their babies supplementary food.

The number of mothers who breast-fed their babies exclusively for the first four months had decreased to 47 percent by 1994. One of the most recent surveys also revealed that only 8 percent of mothers breast-feed their infants within an hour after delivery as doctors suggest.

"Exclusive breast-feeding will improve children's intelligence, whereas breast-milk substitutes cause health problems such as diarrhea, allergies and malnutrition," Benny added.

President Soeharto said, when launching the breast-feeding campaign in Dec. 1990, that greater career opportunities women enjoyed today sometimes forced mothers to give breast-milk substitutes to their babies.

"However, for the love of the babies... and for the healthy development of those living beyond childhood, breast-feeding remains the best," he said then. (31)