{"study_desc":{"title_statement":{"idno":"10.16909-fsvo-dataset-202511-swifs","title":"National monitoring on infant feeding in the first year of life","alt_title":"SWIFS","translated_title":"Studie zur S\u00e4uglingsern\u00e4hrung in der Schweiz 2024","identifiers":[{"type":"DOI","identifier":"10.16909\/fsvo-dataset\/202511\/swifs"}]},"authoring_entity":[{"name":"Institute of Public Health, Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW)","affiliation":""},{"name":"Institute of Midwifery and Reproductive Health, Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW)","affiliation":""},{"name":"Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH)","affiliation":""}],"oth_id":[{"name":"Institute of Public Health, Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW)","affiliation":"","email":"","role":"Statistical support"}],"production_statement":{"producers":[{"name":"Institute of Public Health, Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW)","affiliation":"","role":"Project lead, researcher"},{"name":"Institute of Midwifery and Reproductive Health (ZHAW)","affiliation":"","role":"Co-project lead, researcher"},{"name":"Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH)","affiliation":"","role":"Co-project lead, researcher"}],"copyright":"(c) 2025, Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO)","funding_agencies":[{"name":"Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office","abbreviation":"FSVO","role":""}]},"distribution_statement":{"contact":[{"name":"Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO)","affiliation":"The Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA)","email":"datarepository@blv.admin.ch","uri":"https:\/\/www.studydata.blv.admin.ch\/home"}]},"series_statement":{"series_name":"Survey","series_info":"Fourth version of SWIFS 1994. Some variables may change, and some others may be added in the future."},"version_statement":{"version":"Version 1.0","version_date":"2025-12-18"},"study_info":{"keywords":[{"keyword":"Infant feeding","vocab":"","uri":""},{"keyword":"National monitoring","vocab":"","uri":""},{"keyword":"Breastfeeding","vocab":"","uri":""},{"keyword":"Complementary feeding","vocab":"","uri":""},{"keyword":"Switzerland","vocab":"","uri":""}],"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.\nThe 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\u2019s 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.\nThe survey took place between September 2024 and Dezember 2024.\n\nAims\n\u2022 How are infants being fed in Switzerland today?\n- It should allow further development of Switzerland\u2019s nutrition and breastfeeding recommendations.\n\u2022 What do mothers and children need in the first year of life?\n- Formulation of recommendations for counseling and health services for parents and children\n\u2022 What influences the nutrition, health and wellbeing of mother and child?\n- Identification of potential need for action.\n\nFor more information see:\n- https:\/\/efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.2903\/fr.efsa.2025.FR-0075 (Study report)","coll_dates":[{"start":"2024\/09\/06","end":"2024\/12\/05","cycle":""}],"nation":[{"name":"Switzerland","abbreviation":"CHE"}],"geog_coverage":"Switzerland","analysis_unit":"Individuals","universe":"Mothers of infants aged 3-12 months, 3 language regions (German, French, Italian)","data_kind":"Sample survey data [ssd]","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)."},"method":{"data_collection":{"sampling_procedure":"The study sample was randomly drawn by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO) from the population registry sampling frame using the FSO\u2019s 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.\nFor SWIFS 2024, the FSO drew a random sample of 4040 mothers stratified by infant\u2019s 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.","coll_mode":["Computer Assisted Web Interview"],"research_instrument":"TYPE OF RESEARCH INSTRUMENT: Self-administred questionnaire from the invitation letter\n\t\t  \n\t\t  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.\n\nParticipants were requested to fill in a questionnaire, accessible online with more than 80 questions.\nIt covers the following topics:\n\n\u2022 Perinatal period: course of pregnancy (including intake of dietary supplements and substances such as alcohol and cigarettes) and birth\n\u2022 Medication and vaccinations during pregnancy and breastfeeding.\n\u2022 Health and health behavior of the mother\n\u2022 Infant health\n\u2022 Breastfeeding: decision to breastfeed, development of breastfeeding, duration of breastfeeding, difficulties with breastfeeding, reasons for weaning, substances (alcohol, cigarettes) during breastfeeding\n\u2022 Breastfeeding and work situation\n\u2022 Infant nutrition: 24-hour recall, period of introduction of solid foods, including vitamin D supplementation\n\u2022 Sociodemographic data of mothers\/partners\n\nThis online questionnaire was available in four languages (German, French, Italian and English). Professional translators translated the questionnaire into French, Italian and English.\n\nA pretest in May 2024 on a sample of 31 mothers showed good results in terms of comprehensibility, coherence and acceptance.","coll_situation":"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.\nParticipation consent was asked on the first page of the online questionnaire after repeating the scope, aims and data protection measures again.","act_min":"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.","weight":"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","cleaning_operations":"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\u2019 eligibility and plausibility of data checked, and additional variables were created.","method_notes":"**Exclusion criteria**:\nThe 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.\n\nFor 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.\n\nFor 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."},"analysis_info":{"response_rate":"Participation: 1363 mothers answered the survey. The overall participation rate of the study was 34.2%."}},"data_access":{"dataset_availability":{"access_place":"FSVO Data repository","access_place_uri":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.16909\/fsvo-dataset\/202510\/menuch-kids","status":"Access on request, limited to research purpose only"},"dataset_use":{"conf_dec":[{"txt":"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).\n\nTo 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.\n\nThis 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.\n\nThis 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 \u201cData Privacy Agreement\u201d to be signed and returned by the Lead Researcher. The FSVO will only then grant access to data download.\n\nBefore 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.","required":"yes","form_no":"","uri":""}],"contact":[{"name":"Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO)","affiliation":"The Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA)","email":"datarepository@blv.admin.ch","uri":"https:\/\/www.studydata.blv.admin.ch\/home"}],"cit_req":"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","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."}}},"schematype":"survey","tags":[{"tag":"Adults"},{"tag":"Children"},{"tag":"Humans"}]}