Prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding in Indonesia: a qualitative and quantitative study
Abstract: Breast milk is the
best and most ideal food for babies because it contains all nutrition needed
for their optimal growth and development. Babies who receive breast milk will
have strong immune system, good brain development, and closer emotional bonding
with their mothers. Considering the importance of breast milk, Indonesian
government has been campaigning to endorse exclusive breastfeeding up to six
months in the last four years. To date, there is no national data available to
evaluate the exclusive breastfeeding program. Therefore, Indonesian Pediatric
Society (IDAI) conducted a national survey on breastfeeding to investigate
exclusive breastfeeding rate in Indonesia.
Objective To find out the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding in
Indonesia. Methods This study included 22 provinces in Indonesia and targeted
on mothers with infants aged 0-11 months. For the quantitative portion of the
study we used simple random sampling design to get the prevalence from the
population. For the qualitative interview data we used a stratified random
sampling design to ensure that each infant age group was well represented.
Survey location in each province was selected based on defining the capital
city to be urban area and its sub-urban areas to be rural. This study was
performed between October – November 2010.
Results We found that the prevalences of breastfeeding among baby 0-11
months was quite high which were 91%, 86%, and 72% in infants aged 0-3 months,
0-6 months, and 6-11 months, respectively. Interestingly, the prevalence of
breastfeeding in urban area was higher than in rural area for infants aged 6-11
months. However, despite the high prevalence of giving breast milk, less than
half of mothers gave breast milk exclusively, to babies aged 0-3 months and to
those aged 0-6 months. The awareness to exclusively breastfeed was greater for
urban mothers than for rural ones in those with infants aged 0-6 months.
Mothers with high socioeconomic status had the highest prevalence of exclusive
breastfeeding. The prevalence of breastfeeding without formula was still the
highest up to 12 months but the role of giving formula was increasing
especially in rural area. The prevalence of breast milk introduced as the first
milk was around 60%. Java and Sumatra had lower prevalence of breast milk
introduced as the first milk compared to Kalimantan and Sulawesi. We also found
that mothers started giving solid food from an early age, especially in rural
areas. With increasing age, the frequency of giving breast milk declined in
both urban and rural areas.
Conclusion The overall prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding up to 6
months of age in Indonesia was 49.8%. Maternal unemployment and high family
socioeconomic status were associated with longer duration of breastfeeding.
Author: Elizabeth Yohmi, Nanis
Sacharina Marzuki, Eveline Nainggolan, I Gusti Ayu Nyoman Partiwi, Badriul
Hegar Sjarif, Hanifah Oswari
Journal Code: jpkedokterangg150273