Duration of breastfeeding in France

For the 70% of mothers who start breastfeeding at the maternity unit, the median duration of breastfeeding is 17 weeks, and the median duration of predominant breastfeeding is 7 weeks.

Only 19% of infants are still being breastfed at 6 months. Total breastfeeding duration is shorter for mothers aged below 30 years, who live alone, have a low education level or who go back to work less than 10 weeks after giving birth.

Breastfeeding lasts longer among women in managerial positions (compared with employees), on parental leave (compared with those back at work) or who attended antenatal classes. Breastfeeding also lasts for longer when the father was present at the birth.

Lactated feeding in the first year of life - Blandine de Lauzon-Guillain. During the 2017 Elfe Family Webconference, Blandine de Lauzon-Guillain, researcher at Inserm, presents the first results of the Elfe study on breastfeeding in the first year of life. [FR]

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