Westmoreland Intensifies Drive for Exclusive Breastfeeding

The Westmoreland Public Health Department is intensifying efforts to promote exclusive breastfeeding among infants in the parish.

The push follows 2025 data showing a sharp decline in the breastfeeding rate between six weeks and six months.

Parish Nutritionist for Westmoreland, Gladoris Robinson-Reid, told JIS News that last year, the exclusive breastfeeding rate was recorded at 56.8 per cent at six weeks, declining to 22 per cent at three months and 3.4 per cent at six months.

“Our target is to have 60 per cent of our babies breastfed between zero to six months,” she said.

Mrs. Robinson-Reid said the figures reinforce the need for continued education and stronger support systems to enable mothers to breastfeed exclusively for the recommended period.

She noted, however, that data on partial breastfeeding indicate that mothers are continuing to make an effort to provide breast milk to their babies.

The Parish Nutritionist said that among the relevant clinic attendees, the partial breastfeeding rate was 100 per cent at six weeks, 65 per cent at three months and 75 per cent at six months.

“Persons are making an effort to breastfeed. It’s just that we need a more supportive environment,” she emphasised.

Mrs. Robinson-Reid identified the workplace as one of the environments in which some mothers face challenges maintaining exclusive breastfeeding.

She noted that while mothers are encouraged to express breastmilk for their babies when they are at work, some workplaces do not have suitable private spaces where this can be done.

“Through the help of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), this year we are trying to create safe feeding spaces within workplaces, those that will partner with us, and within our own health centres and health facilities,” she said.

The Parish Nutritionist emphasised that education on breastfeeding is not restricted to the annual observance but forms part of activities at antenatal and child health clinics throughout the year.

“We continue to educate every day within the different spaces across the parish,” she noted.