The epidemiology of breast-feeding in Mexico: rural vs. urban areas.

This article summarizes published and unpublished data on breast-feeding in Mexico collected between 1958 and 1987. These data suggest that Mexican rates of initiation of breast-feeding (78-83%) are among the lowest found in developing countries, that the median duration of breast-feeding in 1987 was virtually the same as it had been in 1976, and that about half of all Mexican infants are not breast-fed beyond six months of age. A finding that the duration of breast-feeding was shortest in urban areas has important policy implications, since 72% of the population lives in urban zones.