Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin today issued a "Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding," outlining steps that all sectors of a community can take to remove obstacles faced by women who want to breastfeed their babies.  In the U.S., while 75 percent of mothers start out breastfeeding, only 13 percent of babies are exclusively breastfed at the end of six months. Given the importance of breastfeeding for the health and well-being of mothers and children, it is critical that action be taken across the country to support breastfeeding. The success rate among mothers who want to breastfeed can be greatly improved through active support from their families, friends, communities, clinicians, health care leaders, employers and policymakers.

Everyone can help make breastfeeding easier.

In her “Call to Action” the Surgeon General has identified 20 key actions to improve support for breastfeeding. Below are selected actions:

Mothers & Their Families: Give mothers the support they need to breastfeed their babies. 
Encouraging women to discuss their desire and plans to breastfeed with their clinicians, family and friends, employers, and child care providers is key.  When a woman has decided she wants to breastfeed, discussing her plans with her clinician during prenatal care and again when she is in the hospital or birth center will enable her clinician to give her the type of information and assistance she needs to be successful. 

Communities: Strengthen programs that provide mother-to-mother support and peer counseling. 
A mother's ability to begin and to continue breastfeeding can be influenced by a host of community factors. Mothers can learn about breastfeeding in prenatal classes and by discussing their interest in breastfeeding with a variety of people. In addition, women can turn to other mothers in their community, whether they are family, friends, or women they have met through mother-to-mother support groups, as well as women who are knowledgeable and have previous experience with breastfeeding.    Community-based support groups such as La Leche League and programs such as theU.S. Department of Agriculture's WIC program can expand the support that women ideally have received in the hospital and help extend the duration of breastfeeding.

Health Care: Ensure that maternity care practices around the United States are fully supportive of breastfeeding. 
Nearly all births in the United States occur in hospital settings, but hospital practices and policies in maternity settings can create barriers to supporting a mother's decision to breastfeed.

National data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) ongoing survey of Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care (mPINC), indicates that hospitals have opportunities to implement practices in labor, delivery, and postpartum care, as well as in hospital discharge planning that support mothers who want to breastfeed.

Employment: Ensure that employers establish and maintain comprehensive, high-quality lactation support programs for their employees. 
Employment is now the norm for U.S. women of childbearing age (20–44 years). In 2009, half of all mothers with children younger than 12 months were employed, and more than two-thirds of those employed worked full-time (35 or more hours per week).

Employed women have been less likely to initiate breastfeeding, and they tend to breastfeed for a shorter length of time than women who are not employed. Most employed mothers who are lactating have to pump milk at work for their children and need to be provided with accommodations to do so.

Make a commitment to ensure that breastfeeding support is consistently available for every mom and baby.  You can lead the way to improve the health of millions of mothers and babies nationwide.

More Information

• The Surgeon General's Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding 
  Steps that can be taken to remove some of the obstacles faced by women who want to breastfeed their babies.
• CDC's Breastfeeding Web site 
  CDC is committed to increasing breastfeeding rates throughout the United States and to promoting and supporting optimal breastfeeding practices toward the ultimate goal of improving the public's health.
• Breastfeeding Hotline 
  The HHS Office on Women's Health.
• La Leche League 
  La Leche Legue has a help line and lots of other information for mothers.

Citation: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Executive Summary: A Call to Action from the Surgeon General to Support Breastfeeding. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Surgeon General; January 20, 2011.

The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding

FACT SHEET

The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding outlines steps that can be taken to remove some of the obstacles faced by women who want to breastfeed their babies.

How many American women breastfeed their babies?

• Three out of four mothers (75%) in the U.S. start out breastfeeding, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2010 Breastfeeding Report Card.
• At the end of six months, breastfeeding rates fall to 43%, and only 13% of babies are exclusively breastfed.
• Among African-American babies, the rates are significantly lower, 58% start out breastfeeding, and 28% breastfeed at six months, with 8% exclusively breastfed at six months.
• The Healthy People 2020 objectives for breastfeeding are: 82% ever breastfed, 61% at 6 months, and 34% at 1 year.

What are the health benefits of breastfeeding?

• Breastfeeding protects babies from infections and illnesses that include diarrhea, ear infections and pneumonia.
• Breastfed babies are less likely to develop asthma.
• Children who are breastfed for six months are less likely to become obese.
• Breastfeeding also reduces the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
• Mothers who breastfeed have a decreased risk of breast and ovarian cancers.

What are the economic benefits of breastfeeding?

• Families who follow optimal breastfeeding practices can save between $1,200–$1,500 in expenditures on infant formula in the first year alone.
• A study published last year in the journal Pediatrics estimated that if 90% of U.S. families followed guidelines to breastfeed exclusively for six months, the U.S. would annually save $13 billion from reduced medical and other costs.
• For both employers and employees, better infant health means fewer health insurance claims, less employee time off to care for sick children, and higher productivity.
• Mutual of Omaha found that health care costs for newborns are three times lower for babies whose mothers participate in the company’s employee maternity and lactation program.

What obstacles do mothers encounter when they attempt to breastfeed?

• Lack of experience or understanding among family members of how best to support mothers and babies.
• Not enough opportunities to communicate with other breastfeeding mothers.
• Lack of up-to-date instruction and information from health care professionals.
• Hospital practices that make it hard to get started with successful breastfeeding.
• Lack of accommodation to breastfeed or express milk at the workplace.

What can the health care community do?

• More hospitals can incorporate the recommendations of UNICEF/WHO’s Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative.
• Provide breastfeeding education for health clinicians who care for women and children.
• Ensure access to International Board Certified Lactation Consultants.

What can employers do?

• Start and maintain high-quality lactation support programs for employees.
• Provide clean places for mothers to breastfeed.
• Work toward establishing paid maternity leave for employed mothers.

What can community leaders do?

• Strengthen programs that provide mother-to-mother support and peer counseling.
• Use community organizations to promote and support breastfeeding.

What can families and friends of mothers do?

• Give mothers the support and encouragement they need to breastfeed.
• Take advantage of programs to educate fathers and grandmothers about breastfeeding.

What can policymakers do?

• Support small nonprofit organizations that promote breastfeeding in African-American communities.
• Support compliance with the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes.
• Increase funding of high-quality research on breastfeeding.
• Support better tracking of breastfeeding rates as well as factors that affect breastfeeding.