Breast-feeding promotion in hospitals and prospective breast-feeding rates during the first year of life in two national surveys 1997-1998 and 2017-2019 in Germany.

<bold>Objectives: </bold>The present study aimed to assess the current state of breast-feeding promotion in hospitals and the prevalence of breast-feeding during the first year of life in Germany and to compare the results with a study 20 years earlier.<bold>Design: </bold>In the studies on 'breast-feeding and infant nutrition in Germany' named 'SuSe', a cross-sectional survey in hospitals was combined with a subsequent prospective survey of breast-feeding and infant nutrition during the first year of life (0·5, 2, 4, 6 and 12 months after birth) in mother-infant pairs who were recruited in the hospitals. Written questionnaires and phone calls were used in SuSe I and web-based questionnaires in SuSe II. Breast-feeding promotion and prevalence were evaluated using recommendations from the WHO and the UNICEF.<bold>Setting: </bold>Two nationwide surveys SuSe I (1997-1998) and SuSe II (2017-2019).<bold>Participants: </bold>In SuSe I, 177 hospitals and 1717 mother-infant pairs and in SuSe II 109 hospitals and 962 mother-infant pairs were included.<bold>Results: </bold>In SuSe II, hospitals implemented seven of the WHO 'Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding' to a greater extent than the hospitals in SuSe I. More mothers exclusively breastfed for 4 months (57 % v. 33 %) and continued breast-feeding until 6 (78 % v. 48 %) and 12 months (41 % v. 13 %). In both studies, exclusive breast-feeding decreased between 4 and 6 months of age due to the introduction of complementary feeding.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>In Germany, breast-feeding habits have come closer to the recommendations over the last 20 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]