N.S. could raise low breastfeeding rate by financially supporting families: experts – CTV
June 25, 2026
HALIFAX — Researchers say if Nova Scotia wants to improve its low breastfeeding rates, the province should ensure new parents can afford to take parental leave.
Kyly Whitfield, a human nutrition professor in Halifax, said Canada as a whole is trailing the World Health Organization’s 2025 nutrition target for having 50 per cent of infants fed exclusively with breast milk for their first six months of life.
“We are at about a third of infants in Canada reaching that (six-month feeding target) … and we see better outcomes in B.C. and worse outcomes here in Nova Scotia,” said Whitfield, who also runs the Milk and Micronutrient Assessment Lab at Mount St. Vincent University.
Health Canada data from 2022 says less than 27 per cent of infants in Nova Scotia were exclusively breastfed for six months. The federal agency’s 2024 data, which grouped the Atlantic provinces together, says 36 per cent of infants in the region were fed only breast milk for six months.
