Be Well: “CDC: Hospitals should do more to encourage breastfeeding”

“CDC: Hospitals should do more to encourage breastfeeding”

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding to age 6 months and continued breastfeeding for at least the first year of life. Various studies show that black mothers tend to start breastfeeding less than white mothers. The lower rates are linked to a lack of awareness about how to breastfeed and the importance of breastfeeding.

A new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls on America’s hospitals to do more to close the gap. (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5911a2.htm.)

The CDC encourages hospitals to implement the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding created by the World Health Organization in collaboration with UNICEF. 

Check out the steps:

Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding

Every facility providing maternity services and care for newborn infants should:

1. Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff.
2. Train all health care staff in skills necessary to implement this policy.
3. Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding.
4. Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within half an hour of birth.
5. Show mothers how to breastfeed, and how to maintain lactation even if they should be separated from their infants.
6. Give newborn infants no food or drink other than breast milk, unless medically indicated.
7. Practice rooming-in - that is, allow mothers and infants to remain together - 24 hours a day.
8. Encourage breastfeeding on demand.
9. Give no artificial teats or pacifiers (also called dummies or soothers) to breastfeeding infants.
10. Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or clinic.

Source: Protecting, Promoting and Supporting Breastfeeding: The Special Role of Maternity Services, a joint WHO/UNICEF statement published by the World Health Organization.