Women who breastfeed their babies while in the hospital are getting more support from those medical centers, but more could still be done to ensure that new mothers are receiving optimal support, claims a new US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report.
According to Live Science and National Public Radio, more than half of hospitals in America were meeting at least five of the CDC’s 10 common recommendations for hospitals to support breastfeeding. Just 29 percent of hospitals met that many recommendations in 2007, the report said, but 75 percent still give formula to healthy babies against the mother’s wishes.
“We’ve seen significant progress in recent years, but there’s still more to be done… Hospitals really need to support women before, during and after their hospital stay,” CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden said during a press conference. “Even a little bit of formula may undermine a strong start to breastfeeding.”
Of the nearly four million children born each year in the US, only 14 percent were delivered in a hospital that met all 10 of the recommendations, which were originally established by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, Dr. Frieden said. While that is three times as many as in recent years, he said that it indicates that there is still room for improvement.
Only one-fourth of hospitals had model breastfeeding policies
Among the WHO/UNICEF recommendations is educating pregnant women on the benefits and management of breastfeeding, and helping them begin using the method to feed their newborns within one hour post-birth, Live Science said. The CDC study found that 93 percent of hospitals offered prenatal breastfeeding education in 2013 (up from 91 percent in 2007).
Furthermore, the percentage offering to teach new moms how to breastfeed was up four percent from 88 percent in 2007 to 92 percent in 2013, and the number of clinics helping women quickly initiate breastfeeding following birth increased from 44 percent to 65 percent during that span.
However, the CDC said that just 26 percent of hospitals had a model breastfeeding policy, and 74 percent routinely fed formula to healthy, breastfed infants when there was no medical reason to do so. Only 45 percent of hospitals kept mothers and babies together for the duration of their stays, which provided them with opportunities to breastfeed, the agency report found.
Less than one-third of hospitals provided enough support for breastfeeding mothers when they left the hospital, and only 22 percent of infants are breastfed exclusively for a six month period as recommended by healthcare experts. Only 29 percent are breastfed, at least in part, for a 12 month period, which can reduce the risk of infection, asthma, and other illnesses.
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Feature Image: Thinkstock
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