Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin issued a “Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding,” outlining steps that all sectors of a community can take to remove obstacles faced by women who want to breastfeed their babies.
In the U.S., while 75 percent of mothers start out breastfeeding, only 13 percent of babies are exclusively breastfed at the end of six months. Given the importance of breastfeeding for the health and well-being of mothers and children, it is critical that action be taken across the country to support breastfeeding.
Benjamin says the success rate among mothers who want to breastfeed can be greatly improved through active support from their families, friends, communities, clinicians, health care leaders, employers and policymakers.
Everyone can help make breastfeeding easier.
In her “Call to Action” the Surgeon General identified 20 key actions to improve support for breastfeeding, including those highlighted below for families, communities, health care providers and employers
Mothers & Their Families:
Give mothers the support they need to breastfeed their babies.
Encouraging women to discuss their desire and plans to breastfeed with their clinicians, family and friends, employers, and child care providers is key. When a woman has decided she wants to breastfeed, discussing her plans with her clinician during prenatal care and again when she is in the hospital or birth center will enable her clinician to give her the type of information and assistance she needs to be successful.
Communities:
Strengthen programs that provide mother-to-mother support and peer counseling.
A mother’s ability to begin and to continue breastfeeding can be influenced by a host of community factors. Mothers can learn about breastfeeding in prenatal classes and by discussing their interest in breastfeeding with a variety of people. In addition, women can turn to other mothers in their community, whether they are family, friends, or women they have met through mother-to-mother support groups, as well as women who are knowledgeable and have previous experience with breastfeeding. Community-based support groups such as La Leche League and programs such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s WIC program can expand the support that women ideally have received in the hospital and help extend the duration of breastfeeding.
Health Care:
Ensure that maternity care practices around the United States are fully supportive of breastfeeding. Nearly all births in the United States occur in hospital settings, but hospital practices and policies in maternity settings can create barriers to supporting a mother’s decision to breastfeed. National data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) ongoing survey of Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care (mPINC), indicates that hospitals have opportunities to implement practices in labor, delivery, and postpartum care, as well as in hospital discharge planning that support mothers who want to breastfeed.
Employment:
Ensure that employers establish and maintain comprehensive, high-quality lactation support programs for their employees. Employment is now the norm for U.S. women of childbearing age (20-44 years). In 2009, half of all mothers with children younger than 12 months were employed, and more than two-thirds of those employed worked full-time (35 or more hours per week).
Employed women have been less likely to initiate breastfeeding, and they tend to breastfeed for a shorter length of time than women who are not employed. Most employed mothers who are lactating have to pump milk at work for their children and need to be provided with accommodations to do so.
Make a commitment to ensure that breastfeeding support is consistently available for every mom and baby. You can lead the way to improve the health of millions of mothers and babies nationwide.
For more information, go online to surgeongeneral.gov.