Breastfeeding Success Among Young Mothers
Breastfeeding Success Among Young Mothers
Human breast milk has been identified as the ideal source of infant nutrition by numerous health organizations such as the World Health Organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics, which recommends exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for the first six months of life. It has been determined that if 90% of all families in the United States (US) adhered to this recommendation, an estimated $13 billion in healthcare and other costs and 911 excess deaths would be avoided annually, due in part to the known protective health factors of human breast milk for both mother and infant. The most recent national rates from the 2008 birth cohort show that only 14.6% of infants were exclusively breastfed for a minimum of six months, with an even lower rate among infants of mothers under the age of 25 (see Table 1 for complete breastfeeding rates).
Forste and Hoffman presented a picture of the woman most likely to initiate breastfeeding (BF). This woman is a college graduate, married, 30 or more years old, not participating in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and lives in the Western region of the US and identifies as being either Hispanic or non-Hispanic White. These characteristics were also associated with BF at six and twelve months and exclusive breastfeeding for six months. In few instances did subgroups of women meet or exceed the Healthy People 2010 goals that were in place at the time of the study.
Breastfeeding Success Among Young Mothers: State of the Science
Human breast milk has been identified as the ideal source of infant nutrition by numerous health organizations such as the World Health Organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics, which recommends exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for the first six months of life. It has been determined that if 90% of all families in the United States (US) adhered to this recommendation, an estimated $13 billion in healthcare and other costs and 911 excess deaths would be avoided annually, due in part to the known protective health factors of human breast milk for both mother and infant. The most recent national rates from the 2008 birth cohort show that only 14.6% of infants were exclusively breastfed for a minimum of six months, with an even lower rate among infants of mothers under the age of 25 (see Table 1 for complete breastfeeding rates).
Forste and Hoffman presented a picture of the woman most likely to initiate breastfeeding (BF). This woman is a college graduate, married, 30 or more years old, not participating in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and lives in the Western region of the US and identifies as being either Hispanic or non-Hispanic White. These characteristics were also associated with BF at six and twelve months and exclusive breastfeeding for six months. In few instances did subgroups of women meet or exceed the Healthy People 2010 goals that were in place at the time of the study.