Three decades of breast-feeding trends in Singapore

Despite the well-documented benefits of breast-feeding for both infant and mother, breast-feeding has, until recently, been given little support. World Health Organization data (WHO, 1981) support the conclusion that, as countries undergo socio-economic development, there is a tendency for the incidence of breast-feeding to decline (Kent, 1981). Many factors contribute to such changes in breast-feeding behaviour. Whilst urbanization and industrialization have been associated historically with declines in breast-feeding (and indeed still appear to be in certain developing countries), the proportion of mothers now returning to breast-feeding in some industrialized countries, e.g. Sweden and the United States of America, is increasing.