PIP: 169 mothers with infants under 6 weeks who attended the Local Authority Child Health Clinic in a socioeconomically disadvantaged area of Cape Town, South Africa, were interviewed in a study of infant feeding practices. Data was obtained on ages of infant of mother, place of birth, i.e., home, hospital, or midwife obstetrics unit, number of previous pregnancies and live children, last birth interval, method used for feeding the infant, reasons for introducing bottle or discontinuing breast, and age of the infant when contact was first made with Local Authority. On the basis of the interview, infants were classified as either breastfed, i.e., exclusively except for water given in a bottle or bottle fed, i.e., receiving no breast milk at all, or mixed fed, i.e., part breast and part bottle. Of the 89 mothers who fulfilled the criteria for breastfeeding, 80 were interviewed 6 weeks later. At the 1st interview, 89 of the 169 babies (52.7%) were being breastfed, 28 (16.6%) were receiving bottle feeds only, and 52 (30.7%) a mixture of both. When 80 of the breastfeeding mother were interviewed for the 2nd time 6 weeks later, 40 were still giving breast milk alone and 5 were not breastfeeding at all. Further analysis showed that the major decrease in the practice of breastfeeding occurred in the first 2 weeks of life, after which there was a slow but steady decline. The reasons given for introducing bottle feeding both before and after 6 weeks were "insufficient quantity" or "poor quality" milk. Other significant problems reported included local breast complications and return to work. The maternal age, parity, and interval between pregnancies did not appear to influence the choice of feeding practice. Approximately 2 years after a program was introduced to give increased support and education to mothers from health personnel a survey similar to the 1st study was undertaken in the same area. Socioeconomic, age range, and other demographic characteristics were similar and the questionnaire constant. At the 1st interview, 94 (75.8%) of the 124 mothers were still breastfeeding, a significant increase from the 1st survey. This trend continued when the 94 mothers who were originally breastfeeding were interviewed for the 2nd time, 6 weeks later. 48, 38.7% of the original number interviewed, were still breastfeeding in comparison with the previous study. The study showed a significant increase in breastfeeding rate.^ieng