PEDIATRICS Vol. 22 No. 1 July 1958, pp. 116-121
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BREAST FEEDING IN THE UNITED STATES: EXTENT AND POSSIBLE TREND

A Survey of 1,904 Hospitals with Two and a Quarter Million Births in 1956

Herman F. Meyer M.D.1

1 Northwestern University Medical School, and Children's Memorial Hospital, Chicago

The per cent of infants in the United States leaving hospital maternity nurseries with breast feeding decreased from 38%, in 1946, to 21% in 1956. There is evidence in each category of states and regions of the United States that there is less breast feeding of hospital newborn infants than there was a decade ago. If confirmed 10 or 20 years hence by comparable surveys, it could be said that a trend existed toward less breast feeding in this country. The presented data suggest an inclination or slant toward that direction.

The results of statistical data shown in the two surveys discussed in this report, and the results anticipated in future surveys, are a reflection of an important change in our cultural pattern. Any variation either way in the incidence of the ancient practice of breast feeding of newborn infants is anthropologically important in regard to the culture of the present time.

Submitted on October 21, 1957
Accepted on January 28, 1958




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