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An increase in exclusive breastfeeding prevalence can substantially reduce mortality and morbidity among infants. In this paper, estimates of the costs and impacts of three breastfeeding promotion programmes, implemented through maternity services in Brazil, Honduras and Mexico, are used to develop cost-effectiveness measures and these are compared with other health interventions. The results show that breastfeeding promotion can be one of the most cost-effective health interventions for preventing cases of diarrhoea, preventing deaths from diarrhoea, and gaining disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). The benefits are substantial over a broad range of programme types. Programmes starting with the removal of formula and medications during delivery are likely to derive a high level of impact per unit of net incremental cost. Cost-effectiveness is lower (but still attractive relative to other interventions) if hospitals already have rooming-in and no bottle-feeds; and the cost-effectiveness improves as programmes become well-established. At an annual cost of about 30 to 40 US cents per birth, programmes starting with formula feeding in nurseries and maternity wards can reduce diarrhoea cases for approximately $0.65 to $1.10 per case prevented, diarrhoea deaths for $100 to $200 per death averted, and reduce the burden of disease for approximately $2 to $4 per DALY. Maternity services that have already eliminated formula can, by investing from $2 to $3 per birth, prevent diarrhoea cases and deaths for $3.50 to $6.75 per case, and $550 to $800 per death respectively, with DALYs gained at $12 to $19 each.

International health organizations have recommended exclusive breast-feeding (EBF) (i.e., breast milk as the only source of food) as the optimal infant feeding method during the first 4-6 mo of life. Therefore, it is important to document the determinants of EBF in different populations. Low-income urban women from Brazil (n = 446, 2 maternity wards), Honduras (n = 1582, 3 maternity wards) and Mexico (n = 765, 3 maternity wards) were interviewed at birth and in their homes at 1 mo and 2-4 mo after delivery. Multivariate survival analyses (Cox model) indicated that planned duration of EBF (all 3 countries), having a female infant, and not being employed (Brazil and Honduras), lower socioeconomic status (Honduras and Mexico) and higher birth weight (control hospital in Brazil and Honduras) were positively associated (P < or = 0.10) with EBF. Women who delivered in the maternity wards that had more developed breast-feeding promotion programs were more successful with EBF. The association between maternal education and EBF was modified by the maternity ward in Mexico and Honduras. Being > or = 18 y and having a partner living (Brazil) or not (Mexico) living at home were positively associated with EBF. These findings can contribute toward the design of EBF promotion efforts in Latin America.

Food choice for children has important implications in establishing early‐life dietary habits and preferences. Food choice for children has been studied as parent–child dyad dynamics, but little is known about the extended system of relationships in maternal food choice for children. The objective of this study was to understand the functions of mothers' social networks in the food choices that mothers make for their children ages 1 to 5 years old in rural Mexico. In‐depth interviews were conducted with 46 participants in three rural communities. The interviews inquired about participants' child‐feeding practices, personal and local beliefs about child feeding and the individuals with whom they had conversations about food and child feeding. All interviews were conducted in Spanish, audio‐recorded, transcribed verbatim, verified for quality and analysed using the constant comparative method. Five interconnected networks emerged, consisting of household family, non‐household family, community, children's initial school and health and nutritional programme personnel. Each network had functions in food choice that ranged from shared food decision‐making in the household family network to imparting formal dietary guidance in the health and nutritional programme personnel network. Across the networks, professionals, participants' mothers and mothers‐in‐law, community senior women and other women with children emerged as prominent figures whom participants would turn to for child‐feeding advice. These findings provide empirical evidence that social networks, as an organized system of interconnected relationships, have vital functions in establishing social norms for food choices made for children that can be leveraged to promote healthy food choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Media can be a powerful communication tool to promote breastfeeding programs, influence mother's breastfeeding behaviour, and generate support among stakeholders for breastfeeding. Yet, there is little information on how media coverage influences a country's breastfeeding enabling environment. This study addressed this gap by conducting a retrospective content analysis of documents published between January 1, 2017 and January 1, 2018 to analyse the media coverage related to breastfeeding in Mexico. Content analysis was based on the breastfeeding gear model and a strategic planning technique to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for enabling the national breastfeeding environment. Media coverage of breastfeeding was more frequent in August (36% of all documents). The top three topics commonly covered by the media were advocacy events promoting breastfeeding, promotion campaigns, and changes in breastfeeding legislation and policy. In general, the media coverage focused on strengths of specific breastfeeding policies. There was limited news coverage of key factors that negatively influenced or threatened the breastfeeding environment. Findings support the need to design strategies to engage the media covering in more depth and breadth diverse aspects of breastfeeding protection, promotion, and support efforts in Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate the association between maternal employment and breastfeeding (both duration and status) in Mexican mothers using data from three National Health and Nutrition Surveys conducted in 1999, 2006 and 2012. We analyzed data from the 1999 National Nutrition Survey, the 2006 National Nutrition and Health Survey, and the 2012 National Nutrition and Health Survey (NNS-1999, NHNS-2006 and NHNS-2012) on 5,385 mothers aged 12-49 years, with infants under 1 year. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to analyze the association between breastfeeding and maternal employment adjusted for maternal and infant's socio-demographic covariates. Maternal formal employment was negatively associated with breastfeeding in Mexican mothers with infants under 1 year. Formally employed mothers were 20 % less likely to breastfeed compared to non-formally employed mothers and 27 % less likely to breastfeed compared to unemployed mothers. Difference in median duration of breastfeeding between formally employed and unemployed mothers was 5.7 months for NNS-1999, 4.7 months for NNHS-2006 and 6.7 months for NNHS-2012 respectively ( p < 0.05). In NHNS-2006 and NHNS-2012, health care access was associated with longer breastfeeding duration. Maternal employment has been negatively associated with breastfeeding in Mexican mothers of <1 year infants at least for the last 15 years. For Mexicans involved in policy design, implementation or modification, these data might offer robust evidence on this negative association, and can be used confidently as basis for conceiving a more just legislation for working lactating women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. This study examined the impact of cesarean section delivery on the initiation and duration of breast-feeding in the 1987 Mexican Demographic and Health Survey. Methods. The subsample (n = 2517) was restricted to women whose delivery of their last-born children (aged 5 years and younger) was attended by a physician. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine the association between cesarean section and the likelihood of either not initiating breast-feeding or doing so for less than 1 month. Among women who breast-fed for 1 month or more, multivariate survival analysis was used to examine the relationship between cesarean section and breast-feeding duration. Results. Cesarean section was a risk factor for not initiating breast- feeding (odds ratio [OR] = 0.64,95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.50,0.82) and for breast-feeding for less than 1 month (OR = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.37, 0.91) but was unrelated to breast- feeding duration among women who breast-fed for 1 month or more (OR 0.97,95% CI = 0.86, 1.11). Conclusions. It is desirable to provide additional breast-feeding support during the early postpartum period to women who deliver via cesarean sections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Becoming Breastfeeding Friendly (BBF) is an initiative designed to track country readiness and progress to effectively scale up breastfeeding programmes. BBF includes a policy toolbox that has three components: the BBF Index (BBFI), case studies, and a five‐meeting process. Mapping pathways of how BBF was implemented and utilized enables contextually grounded interpretation of its impact on breastfeeding outcomes. We conducted a programme impact pathways (PIP) analysis to identify pathways and critical quality control points (CCPs) by which BBF can enable changes in policy, legislation, and implementation of breastfeeding programmes. A BBF PIP diagram was developed, and CCPs were identified through a literature review and an iterative interviewing process with BBF investigators. The PIP was revised after feedback from BBF's Technical Advisory Group. BBF pretesting in Ghana and Mexico informed the formative evaluation of the PIP. PIP analysis identified relevant pathways between BBF activities and outcomes. Eight CCPs that could facilitate or attenuate BBF to fully impact the scaling up of the breastfeeding programmes were identified: (a) committee formed and trained; (b) committee understands BBF and BBFI; (c) committee's ability to acquire data; (d) BBFI scores; (e) criteria used for prioritizing recommendations; (f) dissemination of recommendations; (g) policymaker's reactions and media coverage; (h) committee's motivation and effective teamwork throughout BBF. Ghana and Mexico's pretesting of BBF confirmed the CCPs and provided valuable insights on potential mechanisms of BBF impacts at the country level. To further validate the PIP, a policy analysis framework is being tested in Ghana and Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]