Hospitals Get Failing Grade on Breastfeeding Support

It is a sad fact that many of our nation's hospitals and birth centers are neglecting to provide adequate breastfeeding instruction and support for new mothers. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians suggest that after birth, new mothers should breastfeed their infants exclusively for the first six months of their life and continue to do so with baby food as a supplement until at least their first birthday. However, a survey conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that while health experts encourage women to breastfeed their infants, hospitals do not appear to help when it comes to promoting breastfeeding among new mothers.

Human milk is said to be the best food for newborns because it is filled with nutrients and antibodies that encourage healthy development and protects against infection after babies are born. Studies have been conducted which showed that children that are fed formula have increased risks of ear and respiratory infections, diabetes, obesity, and even cancer. Studies have also shown that breastfeeding has benefits for the mothers as well, such as protecting them from ovarian cancer, breast cancer, and rheumatoid arthritis.

After giving birth, hospitals should be responsible for guiding new mothers to breastfeeding, but not all hospitals are fulfilling this function. The results from the CDC survey looked at maternity practices in seven areas involving the care of women who chose to breastfeed their infants. The responses from this survey were rated on a scale of 0 to 100 points, with approximately 2,700 U.S. maternity hospital and birth centers participating in the survey.

The overall score for hospitals was 63 for key maternity practices in infant care and nutrition, such as offering assistance with breastfeeding, helping mothers establish contact with their infants, offering support for breastfeeding after the mothers have been discharged from the hospital, or having trained personnel who could teach the new mothers how to breastfeed. The highest score of all of the hospitals was a 98, while the lowest score was a 12. The CDC did not reveal the individual scores for the hospitals, however.

A CDC epidemiologist who co-authored the report, Deborah Dee, said, "there is a lot of room for improvement." It is vital for the new mothers to receive assistance when they are trying to breastfeed their newborns, as this process can get very frustrating. This can often lead to pain in the nipples or misperception that they are not providing sufficient milk. This is the moment where the new mother decides what her next move will be: to continue to breastfeed her infant or replace her human milk with formula. Some hospitals offer formulas first as the alternative to breastfeeding, and this is not the way to encourage a new mother to choose what is best for her and her new infant.

The findings from this survey were published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report if you wish to find out more information.