More U.S. mothers opting for nursing

Breastfeeding is on the rise in the U.S., with 77 per cent of new mothers nursing their newborns and nearly half sticking with it for at least six months, according to new data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC’s 2013 Breastfeeding Report Card finds that the proportion of mothers who nurse their babies at all increased significantly between 2000 and 2010 — and that the duration of nursing increased steadily as well.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies consume nothing but breast milk for about six months, and that after they start eating solid foods they continue to nurse until their first birthday. Mothers seem to be following this advice: In 2010, 49 per cent of mothers were breastfeeding at the sixmonth mark and 27 percent were still doing so after one year. In 2000, only 35 per cent of moms nursed for six months and 16 per cent nursed for a year.

The breastfeeding data in the report were from the CDC’s National Immunization Survey.

The CDC said more hospitals were facilitating breastfeeding by helping mothers bond with their babies during the crucial early hours of life.

In 2011, 54 per cent of hospitals allowed most newborns to have skin-toskin contact with their mothers after birth, up from 41 per cent in 2007, according to the report. In addition, 37 per cent of hospitals allowed newborns to “room in” with their moms in 2011, up from 30 per cent in 2007. Those figures were drawn from the CDC’s Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care Survey.

Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC, said nursing mothers helped their babies avoid short-term health problems like ear infections and gastrointestinal infections as well as chronic conditions like diabetes and obesity. They’re also giving their children extra IQ points, according to a study out this week that linked breastfeeding with cognitive performance in children at ages 3 and 7.

Studies have show there is something to gain by encouraging more mothers to breastfeed. A study published in Pediatrics in 2010 found that “if 90 per cent of U.S. families could comply with the medical recommendations to breastfeed exclusively for six months, the United States could save $13 billion a year and prevent an excess 911 deaths annually.”