Japanese trends in breastfeeding rate in baby-friendly hospitals between 2007 and 2010: a retrospective hospital-based surveillance study

BACKGROUND: The goal of Japan’s national “Healthy and Happy Family 21” campaign is to increase the nationwide breastfeeding rate for babies in the first month of life, which is currently below 50%, to a level of 60%. In this article, we summarize the breastfeeding rate for all of Japan’s baby-friendly hospitals (BFHs) and extract their strengths in conjunction with the structural and legislative support that they have in place and finally draw up a policy for dispersing BFH activities to non-BFH delivery facilities, which could be useful for increasing the breastfeeding rate. METHODS: This study included all of the 61 BFHs that are registered in Japan. These hospitals account for approximately 2% of nearly 3,000 Japanese delivery facilities. The surveillance data, which were collected anonymously by the Japan Breastfeeding Association in 2007–2010, were summarized. The numbers of babies who were breastfed after delivery, at discharge from BFHs and at one month of age, were collated. The length of hospital/clinic stay was also collected. RESULTS: The collection rate was 100% in each year (2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010). The breastfeeding rates during hospital stay, at discharge, and one month were >70%, ~90%, and >75%, respectively. The median length of stay was 5 days (minimum/maximum: 5/8) for primipara. CONCLUSIONS: The breastfeeding rate at BFHs at one month of age was more than 75%. This surpassed the current national average (<50%). The median length of hospital/clinic stay was 5 days. In this 5-day period, BFH activities can play an important role in increasing the breastfeeding rate. Since hospitalization for the reported national median length of stay of 6 days, is legally guaranteed, the disbursement of BFH activities to non-BFH delivery facilities, with special support to mothers who delivered by cesarean delivery, would be a useful strategy for achieving a 60% breastfeeding rate at one month of age.