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PEDIATRICS Vol. 107 No. 3 March 2001, pp. 584-587

COMMENTARY:
Physicians and Breastfeeding Promotion in the United States: A Call for Action

The first 300 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Based on the compelling "health, nutritional, immunologic, developmental, psychological, social, economic, and environmental benefits"1 of breastfeeding, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends exclusive breastfeeding for approximately the first 6 months of life, continuing to a year or beyond with the addition of complementary foods at about 6 months. But as we enter the new millennium, US breastfeeding rates remain well below national goals2,3 and physician knowledge about breastfeeding is lacking.4,5 This commentary reviews current national breastfeeding goals and their historical context, discusses one hospital's success at raising breastfeeding rates through the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI), and offers suggestions to help pediatricians influence and improve the breastfeeding situation in our nation.

NATIONAL BREASTFEEDING GOALS AND
WHERE WE STAND

National breastfeeding goals, established by the US government within the Healthy People 2000 program in 1978 and restated in 1989, were to: "increase to at least 75% the proportion of mothers who exclusively or partially breastfeed their babies in the early postpartum period and to at least 50% the proportion who continue to breastfeed until their babies are 5 to 6 months old."6 These objectives are repeated in Healthy People 2010 with the addition of a new goal of a 25% breastfeeding rate at 1 year.3

In October 2000, the US Surgeon General released the Health and Human Services Blueprint for Action on Breastfeeding, "a comprehensive breastfeeding policy for the nation," which identifies breastfeeding as the "ideal method of feeding and nurturing infants" and a national health priority. It calls for improvement in national breastfeeding rates by "education, training, awareness, support and research" as well as the need to address the "alarmingly low breastfeeding rates among African American women."7

In the United States in 1998, 64% of mothers initiated breastfeeding in-hospital, 29% reported feeding any human milk to their infants at 6 months, and 16% were breastfeeding at 1 year.7 These rates are less . . . [Full Text of this Article]


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