Thanks for forwarding this, Esther.  It looks, from this press release, that
these Israeli stats have used something like the measure proposed by Aarts
et al a year ago of 'exclusive breastfeeding from birth'.  Most country
surveys use a 24 hour recall, and the UK stats are not even that, but
something much vaguer.  If and when you see the full publication, I would be
most interested to learn what they asked the women they surveyed (actual
wording of the question), and also which definition (I would guess WHO,
hopefully in the latest manifestation) of ebf they used.

If they did use ebf from birth, they deserve some serious praise!  And,
while this article bemoans the rates, Arab women who breastfed, exclusively
breastfed on average for 22 weeks!!!???  Wow.  Here babies usually get solid
food shoved down thier gullets on the day they turn 16 weeks old, even if
they were (predominately or even exclusively) breastfed.  It would be great
to know more about this.

Magda Sachs
Breastfeeding Supporter, BfN, UK

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