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You are here: Home News Dutch News Health minister wants moms to breastfeed longer

11/04/2008Health minister wants moms to breastfeed longer

A study to find out why many mothers stop breastfeeding after a few months will be launched before measures are introduced.

11 April 2008

THE NETHERLANDS - Dutch Health Minister Ab Klink is launching a study into why so many mothers stop breastfeeding after a couple of months.

He wants to see an increase in the number of babies being breastfed up to the age of six months, since mother's milk is widely regarded as being good for a child's development, especially the immune system.

It also reduces mothers' chances of getting certain diseases later in life.

At the moment, 80 percent of Dutch mothers start breastfeeding their children but only 25 percent continue for six months. The minister wants to find ways of increasing this figure to at least 40 percent.
Before introducing any measures, Klink will first launch an investigation to determine why women stop breastfeeding.

The possible reasons include problems in combining breastfeeding and work, inadequate quality of the milk, breast infections, or pressure from the mother's immediate environment to stop breastfeeding.    

[Radio Netherlands / Georg Schreuder Hes / Expatica]

1 reaction to this article

Joyce S posted: 15-04-2008 | 3:45 AM

The support in Holland is pretty bad for breastfeeding. Both my children were born in the hospital and for both I was pressured to start feeding with formula and bottles the first day of birth. The consultatie bureau also pressured me to start 'supplementing' with formula. Not a surprise that's it's hard to keep up breastfeeding in Holland

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