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3 out of 4 new moms in US now breast-feed their infants
2008-04-30
More than 3 out of 4 new moms now breast-feed their infants, the highest rate in the U.S. in at least 20 years, according to a a government report released Wednesday. About 77 percent of new mothers breast-feed, at least briefly, up from 60 percent in 1993-1994, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. "It looks like it is an all-time high" based on CDC surveys since the mid-1980s, said Jeff Lancashire, a CDC spokesman. Experts attributed the rise to education campaigns that emphasize that breast milk is better than formula at protecting babies against disease and childhood obesity. A changing culture that accommodates nursing mothers may also be a factor. The percentage of black infants who were breast-fed rose most dramatically, to 65 percent. Only 36 percent were ever breast-fed in 1993-1994, the new study found. For whites, the figure rose to 79 percent, from 62 percent. For Mexican-Americans, it increased to 80 percent, from 67 percent. Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher celebrated the report's findings, noting that black women have historically had lower breast-feeding rates. "It was very impressive that when it comes to beginning to breast-feed, African-American women have had the greatest progress," said Satcher, who is now an administrator at Atlanta's Morehouse School of Medicine. The new report is based on a comprehensive federal survey involving in-person interviews as well as physical examinations. The findings are based on information for 434 infants from the years 2005 and 2006. A telephone survey of thousands of families, released last year, found that 74 percent of infants in 2004 had been breast-fed. At least three types of CDC surveys have shown breast-feeding rates moving upward since the early 1990s, officials said. The latest CDC report found rates of breast-feeding were also lowest among women who are unmarried, poor, rural, younger than 20, and have a high school education or less. ___ On the Net: CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs
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