Dessy Sagita – Women's renewed focus on their careers and a dearth of information have been blamed for fewer mothers breast-feeding their newborns, an official said on Friday.

"Many working mothers in Indonesia prefer to give their babies formula milk because they say they don't have time to breast-feed them, which is an unacceptable excuse," Budiharja, the Ministry of Health's director general for community health and education, said at a press briefing to promote World Breast-Feeding Week, which starts on Aug. 2.

Budiharja said breast milk should ideally be a baby's only form of sustenance, adding that it was important to reducing infant mortality rates as targeted in the UN's Millennium Development Goals. "Sadly, though, parents are becoming busier and commercials for formula milk are bombarding the airwaves," he said.

In 2004, 58.9 percent of Indonesian women fed their babies an exclusive diet of breast milk within the first six months after giving birth, according to Ministry of Health data. By 2006, that figure had improved only marginally, going up to 64.1 percent, before dipping to 58.2 percent in 2008.

"We're unlikely to reach our target of getting 80 percent of mothers to breast-feed exclusively by 2010," Budiharja said.

Yet he said the government would launch an aggressive public education campaign to make headway in reaching the target.

Budiharja said that giving formula milk to babies under six months was not recommended, pointing out that preparing the formula in unhygienic situations could result in the baby getting diarrhea, which can be fatal in some cases.

"With breast milk, there's almost zero chance of the baby getting an infection, because the milk contains natural antibodies and is at the perfect temperature," he said.

He added that one of the reasons women were less likely to breast-feed was the lack of supporting public facilities.

"If office policy prohibits a woman from bringing her baby to work, then the management should at least allow her time to pump the milk and store it,"Budiharja said. "And because breast milk can be stored in a fridge, there's no reason not to give it to the baby, even though the mother might be busy."

He added that the Ministry of Health was currently drafting a decree that would punish anyone who prevented a mother from breast-feeding her baby. "With the strict enforcement of this new decree, we hope to get more people to support our campaign," he said.

Utami Roesli, head of the Indonesian Lactation Center, blamed the formula milk lobby on parents' ignorance about the importance of breast-feeding. "Anyone with common sense can see that breast milk is the best option for a baby," she said.

She added that research on the benefits of breast-feeding was not widely publicized. "Breast-feeding is an amazing thing that can save many lives and prevent babies from developing mental illnesses," Roesli said.