U.S. breast-feeding rates rise to record high
Aug 4th, 2007 by Lilian
August 8 is World Breastfeeding Week. Usually, around this time of the year, we will either hear good news about breastfeeding or some news ‘pretending to be good’ about breastfeeding as well.
Well, this is one of the better news about breastfeeding which I hope will provide encouragement to more mothers around the world to breastfeed their babies.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The percentage of U.S. mothers who breast-feed their babies has reached the highest level on record amid mounting evidence that it provides many health benefits to the child, U.S. officials said on Thursday.
With this trend, there really is no reason why a mom refused to give breastfeeding a try. If you are an expectant mother, living in Malaysia or Singapore, do join MyMomsBest forum. We have lots of mothers who are willing to provide peer support online.
To make sure that the health benefits and the statistics are not lost, I would like to copy here the news from Reuters UK.
Philip said she hoped the new statistics will prompt doctors to renew efforts to persuade mothers to breast-feed their babies. She said the CDC is working with hospitals to encourage support of breast-feeding in the days after birth.
The 2004 breast-feeding rate of 74 percent was the highest since such statistics were first kept for U.S. women in the 1950s, Philip said. The lowest rate on record was in 1971, when only 25 percent of mothers breast-fed their infants amid major cultural shifts occurring in the country.
By 1982, the rate had jumped to 62 percent. But it declined again through the 1980s and slumped to 52 percent in 1990 before increasing to 71 percent in 2000 and continuing to rise into this decade, the CDC said.
The CDC noted that 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, CDC said, including decreased risk for the most common form of diabetes, ovarian cancer and breast cancer. “Something I think a lot of people may not realize is that there are benefits to the mother as well as the child,” Philip said.