We all know, breastfeeding, gives children the best start in life begins. It has an extraordinary range of benefits on both babies & mothers, for baby’s survival, health, nutrition and development. Also, breastfeeding also contributes to maternal health and can reduce public healthcare expenses in the long term. Those are formula milk can never substitute.

Evangel Hospital attach great importance to community health issues, by promote positive & healthy message through our daily practice. Therefore, we joined “Say Yes to Breastfeeding” community support campaign, launched by Hong Kong Committee for UNICEF, the Food and Health Bureau and the Department of Health. During the World Breastfeeding Week, encourages mothers to breastfeed their child at workplaces and public places, creating a breastfeeding friendly community in Hong Kong.

Breastfeeding Tips:
UNICEF and the World Health Organization make recommendations on breastfeeding as follows: initiation of breastfeeding within the first hour after the birth; exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months; and continued breastfeeding for two years or more, together with safe, nutritionally adequate, age appropriate, responsive complementary feeding starting from the age of six months.
According to the breastfeeding survey conducted by the Department of Health in 2015, although as many as 86% of mothers of babies born in 2014 initiate breastfeeding on discharge from hospitals, the exclusive breastfeeding rate of Hong Kong infants at 4 months is 27%. There is still much room for improvement of the breastfeeding rate as compared to some overseas countries.

A prospective study on the breastfeeding and weaning practices among Hong Kong mothers points out the main reason for mothers to stop breastfeeding in the first three months after delivery is “returning to workplace”; another survey conducted by the Department of Health in 2013 indicates 60% of mothers experienced a need to breastfeed in public to respond to baby’s needs. For those who do not have such an experience, half expressed their wish to do so.

Reference: https://www.sayyestobreastfeeding.hk/en-gb/index