PRAGUE, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Nine out of 10 women in the Czech Republic expecting their first child want to breast-feed their offspring, according to a poll released here Monday.
Approximately the same mothers actually feed it with breast milk for at least some time, said the poll.
About two thirds of women will breastfeed their baby for more than seven months, Czech News Agency (CTK) quoted the results of a survey commissioned by the Foundation for 1,000 Days to Life in cooperation with the Society for Nutrition on the occasion of World Breastfeeding Week.
World Breastfeeding Week falls every year on the first week of August, with aims to raise awareness of the benefits of nutrition for breast milk.
The recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO) is to breastfeed exclusively within six months, then add baby food and continue for approximately two years. According to experts, the composition of breast milk is unique and irreplaceable. Breastfeeding in children, for example, reduces the risk of developing allergies, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease or obesity, and increases their intelligence.
In the survey, 98 percent of respondents from future mothers agreed that breast milk is the best nutrition for the child.
The survey also showed that breastfeeding problems are more common in women who do not have sufficient information about it. Often they do not know how to properly attach to a child's breast or suffer from a lack of milk.
According to earlier research, about one percent of mothers cannot breastfeed for health reasons.
