> Now I'm being told by a couple of sources that duration rates only look at the
percentage of babies who were ever breastfed that are still breastfeeding at 6
months.  Looking at it that way, you could have a duration rate that is higher
than initiation rate.<

Yes, this is the way that duration rates are calculated, in my experience.  It
may look counter-intutitive, but, once you have chosen a population that
exhibits a certain characteristic -- in this case, initiation of breastfeeding
-- you want to track *that population*, so all those initiating breastfeeding
becomes the population of the study of duration.

You can also usually get figures, or calculate them, for the entire population
(in this case, all babies born) to show how  many babies breastfed at 6 months
as a percentage of all babies.  The UK governemnt stats show both of these, in
their five-yearly surveys of infant feeding.

Incidentaly, I have problems with the idea of initiation of breastfeeding
beginning with the initial feed.  When the governement did their survey of women
in the UK from SE Asia, they used this measure -- for a population who
traditionally avoid colostrum and give the first breastfeed at 2 or 3 days -- an
important habit which needs to be kept in mind in certain populations or the
figures will be meaningless.

Magda Sachs
Breastfeeding Supporter, BfN, UK

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