MCH Ole's List: Breastfeeding

• These numbers are grossly misleading since not even a single US infant death (let alone 900 per year) has ever been attributed to not breastfeeding and since the purported savings are primarily the "lost wages" of the 900 dead infants.
• And continuing breastfeeding is hard, sometimes painful, and incredibly inconvenient especially for women who work, which in 2010 is most women.
• Education efforts, counseling efforts and banning of formula gift bags have made little or no difference in breastfeeding rates.
• Now, with formula at hand and able to satisfy an infant in seconds, it may seem pointless or even cruel (not to mention harrowing to the mother) to force a baby to figure out breastfeeding.
• Instead, we should devote smaller sums to providing counseling to women who truly want to breastfeed and leave everyone else alone.

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• lives of nearly 900 babies would be saved each year, along with billions of dollars, if 90 percent of U.S. women breast-fed their babies

  for the first six months of life
• for the first six months of lif
• 001 government report that said $3.6 billion could be saved each year if 50 percent of mothers breast-fed their babies for six months
• • Impossible? Or difficult? What about new workplace policies mandated by the government?
• impossible
• hospitals may be evaluated on their efforts to ensure that newborns are fed only breast milk before they're sent home
• Hospital practices need to change to be more in line with evidence-based care

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• Hispanic women continue to breast-feed the most, with more than 80 percent initiating breast-feeding right after birth and 45 percent continuing at least six months later.
• The gap between black women and other groups was far more dramatic in the South.
• The highest breast-feeding rate was for white women in the District of Columbia. About 97 percent said they initiated breast-feeding, and 80 percent continued it for at least six months.

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