Canada's breastfeeding dashboard: 2024 edition
This dashboard presents a snapshot of data about breastfeeding in Canada. It includes outcomes by various socio-demographic factors known to influence breastfeeding.
- Last updated: 2024-10-31
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Published: 2024-10-31
This dashboard presents data about breastfeeding in Canada. The data is from the 2022 Canadian Community Health Survey. It reflects information gathered from survey respondents who were between the ages of 15 and 55, identified as female, and had given birth in the previous 5 years.
Breastfeeding is important for the short-term and long-term health of babies, young children and parents. It is recommendedFootnote 1 that babies be fed:
- breast milk only ('exclusive breastfeeding') for the first 6 months of life
- breast milk for 2 years or longer, along with other age-appropriate foods beginning at 6 months
Global breastfeeding targets aim to increase the rate of 6-month exclusive breastfeeding to at least 50% by 2025, and to 70% by 2030Footnote 2Footnote 3.
On this page
Key findings in Canada
91%
(No change from 91% in 2017-2018)
69%
(An increase from 62% in 2017-2018)
38%
(An increase from 35% in 2017-2018)
93%
(An increase from 88% in 2017-2018)
Technical notes
- The data presented in this dashboard was gathered from 2,212 survey respondents, and has been weighted to represent 1,847,437 Canadians. The Canadian Community Health Survey's coverage excludes some populations, such as persons living on reserves and other Indigenous settlements in the provinces, as well as residents of certain remote regions in Canada.
- The data tables below each graphic include confidence intervals (CIs), which are statistical measures of how precise the estimates are. The confidence interval provides a range of values that the true estimate would be expected to fall between, a certain percentage of the time, if the data was re-sampled in the same way. The narrower the range of the confidence interval, the more precise the estimate. All of the displayed confidence intervals are 95% probability.
- Values marked with an asterisk (*) should be interpreted with caution, as these estimates are less precise.
- Values marked with a plus sign (+) indicate categories that have been combined in order for the data to be reportable.
Breastfeeding initiation
Most parents in Canada start out breastfeeding. The map shows the breastfeeding rates in each region.
Figure 1. Breastfeeding initiation by region
Figure 1: Data table with confidence intervals
Table 1. Breastfeeding initiation by region
Region | Rate | Confidence interval (CI) |
---|
The following charts and tables show the percentage of parents who breastfed their newborns by various factors known to influence breastfeeding rates.
Figure 2. Breastfeeding initiation by demographic factor
Highest level of education
Household income
Indigenous identity
Immigration status
Age
Pre-pregnancy BMI
Figure 2: Data table with confidence intervals
Table 2. Breastfeeding initiation by demographic factor
Reasons for not breastfeeding
The following chart shows the reasons given by parents who decided not to breastfeed their newborns.
Figure 3. Reasons given for not breastfeeding
Figure 3: Data table with confidence intervals
Table 3. Reasons given for not breastfeeding
Declines in breastfeeding
The sharpest drop in exclusive breastfeeding occurred during the first month. The rate of any breastfeeding (either exclusive or not) declined more steadily over time.
Figure 4. Breastfeeding rate by month (baby's age)
Figure 4: Data table with confidence intervals
Table 4. Breastfeeding rate by month (baby’s age)
Figure 5. Reasons given for stopping breastfeeding before 6 months
For those who stopped breastfeeding before 6 months, reasons for stopping included:
Figure 5: Data table with confidence intervals
Table 5. Reasons given for stopping breastfeeding before 6 months
Breastfeeding exclusively
Breastfeeding exclusively means that breast milk is the only food the baby eats. While most parents breastfed for at least 6 months, far fewer breastfed exclusively.
- 69% breastfed (either exclusively or not) for at least 6 months
- 38% breastfed exclusively for at least 6 months
The following chart shows the percentage of parents in each region that breastfed for at least 6 months. It also shows the percentage who breastfed exclusively during those 6 months.
Figure 6. Percentage of parents who breastfed for at least 6 months by region
Figure 6: Data table with confidence intervals
Table 6. Percentage of parents who breastfed for at least 6 months by province and territory
The charts below show breastfeeding rates by factors known to influence breastfeeding rates.
Figure 7. Percentage of parents who breastfed for at least 6 months by demographic factors
Highest level of education
Household income
Rural or urban
Pre-pregnancy BMI
Age
Immigration status
Figure 7: Data table with confidence intervals
Table 7. Percentage of parents who breastfed for at least 6 months by demographic factors
Vitamin D supplements
In Canada, it's recommended that all breastfed babies be given extra vitamin D, and most parents follow this advice.
Figure 8. Percentage of breastfed infants given vitamin D supplements, by region
Figure 8: Data table with confidence intervals
Table 8. Percentage of breastfed infants given vitamin D supplements, by region
Region | Rate | Confidence interval (CI) |
---|
Figure 9. Percentage of breastfed infants given vitamin D supplements, by breastfeeding demographic factor
Age
Highest level of education
Household income
Figure 9: Data table with confidence intervals
Table 9. Percentage of breastfed infants given vitamin D supplements, by breastfeeding parent's age and education
Related resources
- 10 Great Reasons to Breastfeed
- 10 Valuable Tips for Successful Breastfeeding
- Breastfeeding resources for health professionals
- Nutrition for healthy term infants: Recommendations from birth to six months
- Rates of and factors associated with exclusive and any breastfeeding at six months in Canada: an analysis of population-based cross-sectional data
Footnotes
Additional breastfeeding data resources
Download data (.csv)
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