The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report on Monday stating that only 43 percent of American babies born in 2007 were breastfed for at least 6 months.

U.S. pediatricians recommend that babies should be breastfed for at least 6 months;if both the mother and the baby so desire, breastfeeding can last more than 12 months. Breastfeeding is known to be beneficial for both the baby and the mother. Among other things, women who breastfeed their children are less likely to develop breast cancer; their breastfed children are less likely to get infections because of the immune system boost they get from nursing. The good news is that as many as 75 percent of  babies, or more than 3 million, started life breastfeeding, according to the CDC's 2010 Breastfeeding Report Card.  And fully half of the fifty states had breastfeeding initiation rates higher than 75 percent. Oregon has the highest breastfeeding rate; more than 62 percent of mothers breastfed their children for at least 6 months, compared to 20 percent in Louisiana. The highest rate of breastfeeding intiation was in Utah;the lowest was in Mississippi. "Meeting the national breastfeeding initiation goal is a great accomplishment in women's and children's health, but we have more work ahead," said William Dietz, M.D., Ph.D., director of CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity. "We need to direct even more effort toward making sure mothers have the support they need in hospitals, workplaces and communities to continue breastfeeding beyond the first few days of life, so they can make it to those six and 12 month marks." It was observed that many mothers receive infant formulas right after birth, which, in a sense, encourages mothers to formula-feed their children. A health observer suggests that mothers should educate themselves about the benefits of breastfeeding. The best food for their babies is always their own breast milk.Reporting by Jimmy Downs, editing by Rachel StocktonPhoto credit: wikipedia and yumama