In February 2024, COFF (the Swiss Federal Commission for Family Affairs) published a Policy Brief stating that breastfeeding is a matter for society as a whole.

“Mothers who wish to breastfeed their children should have the opportunity to do so. In Switzerland, 95% of mothers begin by breastfeeding. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that infants should be exclusively breastfed up to the age of 6 months. In our country, however, the duration of breast-feeding is less than these recommendations, because it depends closely on the duration of maternity protection in force and compliance with the legal provisions protecting breast-feeding women”.

The latest SWIFS study(Swiss Infant Feeding Study) in 2014 published the following figures: In Switzerland, 74% of children stop being breastfed at around 5 or 6 months or stop being breastfed exclusively.

There are many weak points in breastfeeding support in Switzerland:

• difficulties in reconciling work and breastfeeding
• lack of training in breastfeeding for the health professions
• lack of public health messages in favour of breastfeeding.

These findings corroborate the conclusions of the WBTi Switzerland 2020 report, which is written in German and partly in French.

GIFA is delighted with this Policy Brief and we are ready to contribute to bringing its recommendations to life through our awareness-raising activities. Thank you to the two editors, Dr Sonja Merten and Dr Jordyn Wallenborn.

La GIFA está encantada con este informe y está dispuesta a contribuir a hacer realidad sus recomendaciones a través de sus actividades de sensibilización. Gracias a las dos redactoras, la Dra. Sonja Merten y la Dra. Jordyn Wallenborn.

GIFA is delighted with this Policy Brief and we are ready to contribute to bringing the recommendations of this text to life through our awareness-raising activities. Thank you to the two editors