Introduction

Exclusive breastfeeding (EB) at the sixth month of life in Chile in 2012 was 43%, despite campaigns to increase this prevalence. In 2011, a Law related to work leave was approved to increase the prevalence of EB after 6 months. The objective of this work was to determine the evolution of EB in Chile between 2011 and 2015.

Material and Methods

Ecological study with data from the Departamento de Estadísticas e Información of the Ministry of Health of Chile (2,444,426 infants from 2011 to 2015). The prevalence of EB was determined in the first month of life, at 3, 6 and 12 months. The differences between mothers who did or did not enjoy the leave and the reasons for EB cessation at 6 months in 2013 were explored.

Results

The prevalence of EB at first (74%), third (67%) and sixth month (53%) was similar to previous years. In EB at 6 months there was a significant increase of 12 points between 2011 and 2015. In addition, women with paid maternity leave were more likely to give EBL at the 6th month and the main reasons that led to stop EB at 6 months were that the infant was left hungry (27.2%), problems in the nipple (14.7%) and start of work or student activities (10.4%).

Conclusions

There is an increase in the EB at the 6th month of life by 12 percentage points between 2011 and 2015, although this increase did not occur until 2014. The EB at 6 months is higher in women who access to the benefits of the Law. The increase would be related to the fulfilment of a health goal and financial incentives to primary health care teams in those years and not to the Law implemented.

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