Number of breast-feeding mothers in US at record high

21 August, 2007:

The number of mothers in the United States who breast-feed their babies has reached an all-time record amidst growing evidence that breast milk is the best food for babies.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 74% of American women who gave birth in 2004 breast-fed their babies for at least some period of time, continuing an upward trend since the early 1990s.

Breast-feeding rates in the United States almost reached the government’s target of 75%, a report prepared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on breast-feeding said.

However, many women did not stick exclusively to breast-feeding in the first months after birth as recommended by experts, turning instead to baby formula, the report added.

The American Academy of Paediatrics recommends that women who do not have health problems exclusively breast-feed their infants for at least the first six months, with breast-feeding continuing at least through the first year as other foods are introduced. The CDC supports these recommendations.

The CDC report says that, among infants born in 2004, the rate of exclusive breast-feeding through the first three months after birth was 31%, short of the government’s goal of 60%, and through six months was 11%, below the government’s target of 25%.

The report detailed racial and socio-economic disparities among women who provide their babies exclusively breast milk in these first months – with
black, teen-age, rural, less-educated, lower-income, and unmarried mothers less likely to do so.

Dr Celeste Philip, CDC’s epidemiologist lead author of the CDC’s report on breast-feeding, said she hoped the new statistics will prompt doctors to renew efforts to persuade mothers to breast-feed their babies. The CDC is working with hospitals to encourage support of breast-feeding in the days after birth.

The 2004 breast-feeding rate of 74% was the highest since such statistics were first kept for US women in the 1950s.

The lowest rate on record was in 1971, when only 25% of mothers breast-fed their infants amid major cultural shifts occurring in the country. By 1982, the rate had jumped to 62%.

However, it declined again through the 1980s and dropped to 52% in 1990 before increasing to 71% in 2000 and continued to rise into this decade.

Breast-feeding is associated with decreased risk for many diseases and conditions, including ear infections, respiratory tract infections, sudden infant death syndrome, obesity, eczema, and diarrhea.

It also is associated with health benefits to women, including decreased risk for the most common form of diabetes, ovarian cancer and breast cancer.