Breastfeeding support falling short at U.S. hospitals, birthing centers.U.S. hospitals and birth centers are lagging in promoting supportive breastfeeding practices, with southern states Southern States U.S. Confederacy government of 11 Southern states that left the Union in 1860. [Am. Hist.: EB, III: 73] Dixie popular name for Southern states in U.S. and for song. [Am. Hist. faring more poorly than other regions. Published in the June 13 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) is a weekly epidemiological digest for the United States published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The 5 June 1981 issue of the MMWR published the cases of five men in what turned out to be the first report of AIDS. , a survey of breastfeeding support at hospitals and birth centers in all states, the District of Columbia District of Columbia, federal district (2000 pop. 572,059, a 5.7% decrease in population since the 1990 census), 69 sq mi (179 sq km), on the east bank of the Potomac River, coextensive with the city of Washington, D.C. (the capital of the United States). and Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (pwār`tō rē`kō), island (2005 est. pop. 3,917,000), 3,508 sq mi (9,086 sq km), West Indies, c.1,000 mi (1,610 km) SE of Miami, Fla. found that 65 percent of facilities advised women to limit the duration of suckling suckling In mammals, the drawing of milk into the mouth from the nipple of a mammary gland. In human beings, it is referred to as nursing or breast-feeding. The word also denotes an animal that has not yet been weaned—that is, whose access to milk has not yet been at each breastfeeding and 45 percent had given pacifiers to more than half of all healthy, full-term breastfed infants. The lowest score in the survey, which looked at maternity practices in several areas, was for breastfeeding support after discharge. Seventy percent of facilities reported providing breastfeeding mothers with discharge packs containing infant formula Infant formula is an artificial substitute for human breast milk. Formulas are designed for infant consumption, and are usually based on either cow milk or soy milk. Use of infant formula has been decreasing in industrial countries for over forty years as a result of antenatal samples. And while 95 percent of facilities reported providing a telephone number for mothers to call for breastfeeding advice after leaving the birth facility, only 56 percent reported initiating follow-up calls to mothers. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] For newborn feeding, 24 percent of facilities reported giving supplements to more than half of all healthy, full-term breastfeeding infants. Generally, birth centers offered more breastfeeding support than hospitals. In the survey, facilities were scored on practices such as breastfeeding assistance, mother and newborn contact, newborn feeding practices and breastfeeding support after discharge, with a possible high score of 100. Overall, the average mean score was 63, ranging from a high of 81 for facilities in Vermont and New Hampshire New Hampshire, one of the New England states of the NE United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts (S), Vermont, with the Connecticut R. forming the boundary (W), the Canadian province of Quebec (NW), and Maine and a short strip of the Atlantic Ocean (E). to a low of 48 in Arkansas. Breastfeeding support was lowest in the South, according to the survey, and highest in western and northeastern states and the District of Columbia. A recent federal report found that more than three of four new mothers breastfed their infants in 2005-2006, the highest rate in the country in at least 20 years and an increase from 60 percent in 1993-1994. For more information, visit www.cdc.gov/mmwr. |
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