Swiss federal authorities

Created on : 20.11.2025 Last modified : 18.12.2025

National monitoring on infant feeding in the first year of life

Switzerland, 2024

Reference ID

10.16909-fsvo-dataset-202511-swifs

DOI

Producer(s)

Institute of Public Health, Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Institute of Midwifery and Reproductive Health, Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH)

Collections

Research datasets

Metadata

Study Description Documentation Data access

Identification

Survey ID Number
10.16909-fsvo-dataset-202511-swifs
Title
National monitoring on infant feeding in the first year of life
Translated Title
Studie zur Säuglingsernährung in der Schweiz 2024
Country
Name Country code
Switzerland CHE
Study type
Survey
Series Information
Fourth version of SWIFS 1994. Some variables may change, and some others may be added in the future.
Abstract
Nutrition is a crucial factor for healthy development and long-term health in the first years of life. In Switzerland, breastfeeding practices and infant feeding habits are evaluated every ten years to establish a basis for promoting healthy nutrition in children.
The Swiss Infant Feeding Study (SWIFS) is a population-based, cross-sectional study in mothers of infants aged 0 -12 months. The FSO drew a random sample of 4040 mothers stratified by infant’s age groups (0-3 months, 4-6 months, 7-9 months and 10-12 months old) and language region (German-, French- and Italian-speaking regions) from the population registry sampling frame. The sample mothers received a postal invitation letter to participate in an online survey. Survey participation was voluntary.
The survey took place between September 2024 and Dezember 2024.

Aims
• How are infants being fed in Switzerland today?
- It should allow further development of Switzerland’s nutrition and breastfeeding recommendations.
• What do mothers and children need in the first year of life?
- Formulation of recommendations for counseling and health services for parents and children
• What influences the nutrition, health and wellbeing of mother and child?
- Identification of potential need for action.

For more information see:
Nationale Studie zur Ernährung von Säuglingen : https://www.blv.admin.ch/blv/de/home/lebensmittel-und-ernaehrung/forschung/gesundheitliche-risiken/ernaehrungsrisiken/stillmonitoring.html
Étude nationale sur l’alimentation des nourrissons : https://www.blv.admin.ch/blv/fr/home/lebensmittel-und-ernaehrung/forschung/gesundheitliche-risiken/ernaehrungsrisiken/stillmonitoring.html
Studio nazionale sull’alimentazione dei lattanti : https://www.blv.admin.ch/blv/it/home/lebensmittel-und-ernaehrung/forschung/gesundheitliche-risiken/ernaehrungsrisiken/stillmonitoring.html
Kind of Data
Sample survey data [ssd]
Unit of Analysis
Individuals

Version

Version Description
Version 1.0
Version Date
2025-12-18

Scope

Notes
Themes: breastfeeding, complementary feeding, vitamin and mineral intake of pregnant mother and infant, as well as prevention and counselling, socio-demographic characteristics of mothers/partners and infants, current nutritional situation and health of infants, information on pregnancy, birth and mother health, determinants and context factors which promote or hinder breastfeeding duration, weaning period, comparisons to earlier monitoring studies (1994, 2003, 2014).
Keywords
Keyword
Infant feeding
National monitoring
Breastfeeding
Complementary feeding
Switzerland

Coverage

Geographic Coverage
Switzerland
Universe
Mothers of infants aged 3-12 months, 3 language regions (German, French, Italian)

Producers and sponsors

Primary investigators
Name
Institute of Public Health, Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW)
Institute of Midwifery and Reproductive Health, Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW)
Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH)
Producers
Name Role
Institute of Public Health, Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) Project lead, researcher
Institute of Midwifery and Reproductive Health (ZHAW) Co-project lead, researcher
Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) Co-project lead, researcher
Funding Agency/Sponsor
Name Abbreviation
Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office FSVO
Other Identifications/Acknowledgments
Name Role
Institute of Public Health, Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) Statistical support

Sampling

Sampling Procedure
The study sample was randomly drawn by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO) from the population registry sampling frame using the FSO’s surveys on individuals and households sampling frame (SRPH, https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/grundlagen/volkszaehlung/volkszaehlung-teil-gesamtsystem/stichprobenrahmen.html). The sample size and power calculation were based on breastfeeding prevalences obtained in the SWIFS study 2014. The FSO sample frame contains data (addresses, nationality, age etc.) from cantonal and communal population registers which are updated regularly. The sample frame was updated by end of June 2024, which means that all new births registered in cantonal registries were included at this time point.
For SWIFS 2024, the FSO drew a random sample of 4040 mothers stratified by infant’s age groups (0-3 months, 4-6 months, 7-9 months and 10-12 months old) and language region (German-, French- and Italian speaking regions). As the FSO needs time to process the data of the population registers, we received the addresses by end of August 2024. At this timepoint, the newly registered born infants from June 2024 were already 3 months old. For this reason, there are no infants that are 0, 1 or 2 months old in the sample.
Response Rate
Participation: 1363 mothers answered the survey. The overall participation rate of the study was 34.2%.
Weighting
Population weights for several sociodemographic characteristics of the mothers have been obtained, which have been shown to be significantly associated with earlier weaning. The analyses for the duration of total, full and exclusive breastfeeding were run again to see if the results change. Highest completed education of mother, Mother currently smoking, Single mother status, Nationality: Swiss, Europe, Outside Europe are the population data used to calculate weights

Data Collection

Dates of Data Collection
Start End
2024/09/06 2024/12/05
Data Collection Mode
Computer Assisted Web Interview
Supervision
The study was led by the Institute of Public Health, Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) in cooperation with the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) and the Institute of Midwifery and Reproductive Health.
Data Collection Notes
Two reminders were sent after two weeks and six weeks to mothers who had not yet participated or completed the online questionnaire, asking them to participate in the study until 05.12.2025.
Participation consent was asked on the first page of the online questionnaire after repeating the scope, aims and data protection measures again.

Questionnaires

Questionnaires
TYPE OF RESEARCH INSTRUMENT: Self-administred questionnaire from the invitation letter

The online questionnaire was developed in collaboration with the FSVO. It is based on the 2014 SWIFS questionnaire for sake of data comparability across surveys and was only adapted or extended where necessary.

Participants were requested to fill in a questionnaire, accessible online with more than 80 questions.
It covers the following topics:

• Perinatal period: course of pregnancy (including intake of dietary supplements and substances such as alcohol and cigarettes) and birth
• Medication and vaccinations during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
• Health and health behavior of the mother
• Infant health
• Breastfeeding: decision to breastfeed, development of breastfeeding, duration of breastfeeding, difficulties with breastfeeding, reasons for weaning, substances (alcohol, cigarettes) during breastfeeding
• Breastfeeding and work situation
• Infant nutrition: 24-hour recall, period of introduction of solid foods, including vitamin D supplementation
• Sociodemographic data of mothers/partners

This online questionnaire was available in four languages (German, French, Italian and English). Professional translators translated the questionnaire into French, Italian and English.

A pretest in May 2024 on a sample of 31 mothers showed good results in terms of comprehensibility, coherence and acceptance.

Data Processing

Data Editing
Study data were collected and managed using REDCap electronic data capture tools (version 15.4.3) hosted at Zurich University of Applied Sciences. Once the data collection was terminated, the data records (N=1363) were exported from RedCap into a STATA-15 file, the statistical software used for the statistical analyses. Prior to the analyses the data were cleaned, participants’ eligibility and plausibility of data checked, and additional variables were created.
Other Processing
**Exclusion criteria**:
The following exclusion criteria were applied: Missing date of birth (N=21), missing answer of breastfeeding infant (N=44), incompleteness of the monitoring questions at the start of the 24-hour nutrition protocol (N=27) and at the end of the 24-hour nutrition protocol (N=3). Overall, 95 data records were excluded from the analysis, leaving 1269 eligible data sets.

For the analysis of the duration of breastfeeding, the sample was limited to infants aged 0-12 months (exclusion if age >12 months; N=149). Further, data sets were excluded if information on duration of full, exclusive or total breastfeeding was missing (N=39). The analysis sample for the duration of breastfeeding thus comprises a total of 1081 data records.

For the analysis of the introduction of complementary foods all infants irrespective of age were included. However, data records were excluded if the following exclusion criteria applied: 24h feeding record and/or retrospective feeding record not completed (N=18), Discrepancies between age of the child and age at the introduction of complementary food (N=7). The analysis sample for the introduction of complementary foods thus comprises a total of 1244 data records.

Access policy

Contacts
Name Affiliation Email URL
Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) The Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA) datarepository@blv.admin.ch Link
Confidentiality
Licensed datasets, accessible under conditions for research purposes. Only the data of study participants, who have given their written consent for the further use of the study data for research purposes, will be made available (n = 1269). To request access to licensed datasets, please register to the website to continue (https://www.studydata.blv.admin.ch/index.php/auth/register). Once your registration will be approved you must login and go to the "DATA ACCESS" tab and fill in the application form for access to the licensed dataset. This form must be filled and submitted by the Lead Researcher in order to initiate the review process. Lead Researcher refers to the person who serves as the main point of contact for all communications involving this agreement. Access to licensed datasets will only be granted when the Lead Researcher is an employee of a legally registered receiving agency (university, research company, research centre, national or international research organization, etc.) on behalf of which access to the data is requested. The Lead Researcher assumes all responsibility for compliance with all terms of the Data Privacy Agreement by all researchers involved in the respective research project. This request will be reviewed by the FSVO team, who may decide to approve the request, to deny access to the data, or to request additional information from the Lead Researcher. If your request is reviewed positively, you will receive by e-mail a separate “Data Privacy Agreement” to be signed and returned by the Lead Researcher. The FSVO will only then grant access to data download. Before filling and submitting the request form, please consult the codebook in order to find out whether or not the available data provide the variable(s) you would need for your project. If in doubt you may contact the FSVO by email (datarepository@blv.admin.ch) for clarification.
Citation requirements
Juvalta S., Gross K., Grylka S., Kalb V., Dratva J., Swiss Infant Feeding Study 2024 (SWIFS), Institute of Public Health, Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Switzerland. Version 1.0 of the licensed dataset (11/2025), provided by the FSVO Data Repository. DOI:https://doi.org/10.16909/fsvo-dataset/202511/swifs
Access authority
Name Affiliation Email URL
Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) The Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA) datarepository@blv.admin.ch Link
Location of Data Collection
FSVO Data repository
Disclaimer
The user of the data acknowledges that the original collector of the data, the authorized distributor of the data, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.
Copyright
(c) 2025, Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO)


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