UNICEF welcomes Government of China's efforts to promote a culture of breastfeeding

Beijing, 20 May, 2015 – On the celebration of the National Breastfeeding Day, UNICEF welcomes all efforts by the Government of China to promote breastfeeding and restrict the marketing of infant formula.

Although China has adopted many of the legal provisions contained in the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes, adopted by the World Health Assembly in 1981, aggressive promotion of formula continues to threaten the country's breastfeeding culture.

Many mothers neither exclusively breastfeed for the first six months of the baby's life nor continue breastfeeding for the recommended two years or more, and instead replace breast milk with commercial breastmilk substitutes or other milks. In China the exclusive breastfeeding rate has fallen to 28 per cent nationally.

Under the International Code which aims to protect and promote breastfeeding, there should be absolutely no promotion of breastmilk substitutes, bottles and teats to the general public; that neither health facilities nor health professionals should have a role in promoting breastmilk substitutes; and that free samples should not be provided to pregnant women, new mothers or families.

It is well recognized that the period from birth to two years of age is the “critical window” for the promotion of good growth, health, and behavioral and cognitive development. Therefore, optimal infant and young child feeding is crucial during this period. Optimal infant and young child feeding means that mothers are empowered to initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth, breastfeed exclusively for the first six months and continue to breastfeed for two years or more, together with nutritionally adequate, safe, age appropriate, responsive complementary feeding starting at six months. 

Exclusive breastfeeding is the perfect way to provide the best food for a baby's first six months of life, benefiting children the world over. But breastfeeding is so much more than food alone; breastfed infants are much less likely to die from acute respiratory infections, diarrhoea, and other diseases: a non-breastfed child is 14 times more likely to die in the first six months than an exclusively breastfed child. Breastfeeding supports infants' immune systems and helps protect from chronic conditions later in life such as obesity and diabetes.

Early and exclusive breastfeeding helps children survive, but it also supports healthy brain development, improves emotional bonding and cognitive performance and is associated with better educational achievement at age 5. 

Breastfeeding also has benefits for mothers, as it helps reduce the risk of getting breast cancer. 

Formula is not an acceptable substitute for breastmilk: it is just a food, whereas breast milk is a complex living nutritional fluid containing anti-bodies, enzymes, long chain fatty acids and hormones, many of which simply cannot be included in formula. In addition, powdered formula is not a sterile product, and provision of formula always includes the risk of avoidable disease and mortality, as outbreaks with Enterobacter sakazakii testify.

These benefits of breastfeeding and risks of formula feeding have led to an increasing amount of countries adopting the International Code of Marketing of Breast-Milk Substitutes. In 29 countries the Code protects children up to two years of age, while children in Fiji, Niger, Tanzania and Zimbabwe are even protected to age five.

China's efforts to promote breastfeeding, set targets for exclusive breastfeeding and enshrine restrictions of formula marketing in law are another example of visionary leadership.