Last Updated: 2002-12-02 11:20:41 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Alan Mozes

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - American mothers are breast-feeding their infants in greater numbers than ever, a new national survey reveals.

"Breast-feeding initiation and duration rates are at a record high," said Dr. Alan S. Ryan, leader of the survey team put together by the Ross Products Division of Abbott Laboratories in Columbus, Ohio.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, the authors note, has for years strongly advocated that mothers breast-feed their newborns so that the newborns gain "advantages with regard to general health, growth and development, while significantly decreasing risk for a large number of acute and chronic diseases."

The researchers reviewed responses to over 2 million questionnaires, which had been mailed in 1996 and 2001 to a sampling of the approximately 4 million American women who give birth each year. Abbott's national surveys were first launched in 1954.

On a monthly basis, the women were asked what they fed their newborns from birth through their first year, as well as their racial, educational and geographical background, and whether they held a full- or part-time job outside the home.

In the December issue of Pediatrics, the authors report that a decades-long rollercoaster ride of rising and falling breast-feeding rates currently appears to be on a dramatic upswing.

Between 1996 and 2001, the researchers observed an average 2% rise each year in the number of mothers who breast-feed both directly following delivery and when their infants reached 6 months.

Ryan and his team found that by 2001, almost 70% of mothers--up from 51% in 1990--said they were feeding their children some combination of breast milk along with supplements or cow's milk in the hospital following birth. Over 46% said they exclusively fed their child breast milk while in the hospital. The figures were the highest recorded to date.

In addition, almost one third of mothers in 2001 said they were still feeding their 6-month-old infants at least some breast milk, compared to less than 18% in 1990. The percentage of mothers who said they exclusively fed their 6-month-olds breast milk rose to over 17% in 2001 from 10% in 1990, the researchers found.

Between 1996 and 2001, rate jumps were greatest among women who have traditionally been least likely to breast-feed: blacks; women under 20; the unemployed; those with no more than a high school education; and those participating in the government-run Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

Nevertheless, not all public health targets are on track to be met, the researchers caution. While the goal of getting 75% of all mothers to breast-feed their newborns by 2010 appears within reach, they suggest that the 2010 target of getting 50% of all mothers to continue breast-feeding until at least the 5th or 6th month is in jeopardy.

"The bottom line is that a lot more work has to be done to increase breast-feeding among all mothers, but especially among WIC mothers," Ryan told Reuters Health.

Ryan said the healthcare system and private businesses alike must improve efforts to promote breast-feeding.

Providing lactation rooms that allow mothers to express their milk, daycare centers at the workplace, parenting classes and peer-counseling programs were a few examples he offered of steps that could be taken to further boost breast-feeding rates.

"The nation," said Ryan, "needs to focus and make that a priority."

SOURCE: Pediatrics 2002;110:1103-1109.

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