Despite the established benefits of breastfeeding, breastfeeding
rates in many developed countries continue to be resistant to
change. In the UK, the breastfeeding initiation rate was 69% in
2000 (Hamlyn 2002). A similar figure is reported in the US (USDoHHS
2005). However, in both the UK and USA there is a
marked decline in breastfeeding within the first few weeks after initiation,
and exclusive breastfeeding is rare. Conversely, some other
European countries, such as Scandinavia and Germany (Cattaneo
2003), have high initiation and continuation breastfeeding rates
(Nicoll 2002).