Infant feeding

Overview

In NSW in 2022, infant feeding on discharge from hospital was reported for 91,012 liveborn babies. Sixty-six per cent of babies were fully breastfed at the time of discharge from the hospital, 9.0% were receiving infant formula only, and a further 22.3% were being partially breastfed. Rates of full breastfeeding varied from 52.7% in South Western Sydney Local Health District to 79.9% in Northern NSW Local Health District.

Live births by infant feeding on discharge and local health district of residence, NSW 2022

By number of births

Local Health District	Full breastfeeding	Partial breastfeeding	Infant formula only	Not stated	Total
Sydney	4302	2160	302	91	6855
South Western Sydney	7207	4220	1698	545	13670
South Eastern Sydney	6639	2386	526	152	9703
Illawarra Shoalhaven	3398	512	539	34	4483
Western Sydney	8568	4260	1216	354	14398
Nepean Blue Mountains	2917	966	616	346	4845
Northern Sydney	6040	1884	340	159	8423
Central Coast	2949	470	349	42	3810
Hunter New England	8012	1591	1139	318	11060
Northern NSW	2118	231	164	137	2650
Mid North Coast	1644	292	212	54	2202
Southern NSW	1204	159	127	26	1516
Murrumbidgee	1735	302	341	68	2446
Western NSW	2522	552	507	89	3670
Far West	148	17	34	3	202
Other–not stated	653	320	66	40	1079
Total	60056	20322	8176	2458	91012

By percentage of births

Local Health District	Full breastfeeding	Partial breastfeeding	Infant formula only	Not stated	Total
Sydney	62.8	31.5	4.4	1.3	100.0
South Western Sydney	52.7	30.9	12.4	4.0	100.0
South Eastern Sydney	68.4	24.6	5.4	1.6	100.0
Illawarra Shoalhaven	75.8	11.4	12.0	0.8	100.0
Western Sydney	59.5	29.6	8.4	2.5	100.0
Nepean Blue Mountains	60.2	19.9	12.7	7.1	100.0
Northern Sydney	71.7	22.4	4.0	1.9	100.0
Central Coast	77.4	12.3	9.2	1.1	100.0
Hunter New England	72.4	14.4	10.3	2.9	100.0
Northern NSW	79.9	8.7	6.2	5.2	100.0
Mid North Coast	74.7	13.3	9.6	2.5	100.0
Southern NSW	79.4	10.5	8.4	1.7	100.0
Murrumbidgee	70.9	12.3	13.9	2.8	100.0
Western NSW	68.7	15.0	13.8	2.4	100.0
Far West	73.3	8.4	16.8	1.5	100.0
Other–not stated	60.5	29.7	6.1	3.7	100.0
Total	66.0	22.3	9.0	2.7	100.0

Downloads

Notes

Source: NSW Perinatal Data Collection (SAPHaRI). Centre for Epidemiology and Evidence, NSW Ministry of Health.

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