Breast-feeding rate has dropped to 12.7% in Shanghai

Only 1 baby in 8 is lucky enough to be fed at the breast in Shanghai. According to the Conference on the Promotion of Breastfeeding in China held on November 11, 1991, the breastfeeding rate in Shanghai has kept dropping with years. The rate is 32% is 1979, 23% in 1984, and only 12.7% in 1991 according to the sample survey. Although breastfeeding has been put on the agenda of the work of maternal and child care since the late 1970s and much work has been done by the maternal and child care workers on this, the trend of dropping of the breastfeeding rate is still hard to be reversed. Specialists in the field think the reason behind this is that many parents as well as grandparents are afraid that their only baby cannot be fully fed at the breast, and they only see fast weight gaining as a sign of healthiness. In addition, the marketing and gifting of the overseas dried-milk businessmen is also dedicated to the dropping of the breastfeeding rate. So now some regulations have been formulated in Shanghai to prohibit businessmen from marketing and gifting dried milk to hospitals.