Abstract:
New Zealand (NZ) is absent from documents of international bodies monitoring indicators of breastfeeding and other infant feeding practices globally. For almost 2 decades NZ has been collecting consistent information on breastfeeding and complementary feeding within the National Health Surveys, by the Lead Maternity Carers, and by the Well Child Tamariki Ora providers. However, infant feeding information collected by these different sources has limitations related to coverage and reliability. Using data from the Growing up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) cohort study, this talk will provide the first nationally generalizable information on indicators and predictors of breastfeeding, the timing of food introduction, and overall infant feeding quality in NZ. GUiNZ findings will be then compared to other countries and to international recommendations.
