The State of Our Health - Children's Health: Mother's Milk

The graphic shows just a quarter century of breastfeeding statistics for non-Hispanic whites and blacks and for Hispanics of any race. The bars and the top curve show initial feeding of the babies following birth. The lower curve shows babies who were still being breastfed three months after birth and beyond.

This period is one of resurgence. In the 1955 to 1971 period, breastfeeding of infants declined. At the beginning of this period less than 25% of babies were fed mother's milk at birth and only 12% were breastfed three months after birth or later.

This resurgence coincides with the Baby Boom's entering its reproductive years. One is inclined to see it as a cultural response — which no doubt it was — the children doing what their parents had avoided doing. In 1971, La Leche League (which started in 1956) hosted Princess Grace of Monaco at its 4th International Conference in Chicago. Her speech seems to have been the spark that set off a fire, albeit with the fuel abundantly available for a conflagration — because breastfeeding began to surge and appears still to be blazing. This phenomenon is the more remarkable since in the 1970 to 1994 period, female participation in the labor force went up from 43.4% to 59.2%.

The surge faltered in the 1983 to 1989 period — no one seems to have an explanation. But the climb in breastfeeding resumed thereafter. To bring the data as close to up-to-date as possible, the results for 1994 through 1998 are presented on the next page.

Percent of Babies Breastfed

Percent of Babies Breastfed
Year	In Hospital	At home, 6 months	At home, 12 months
1994	57.4	19.7	-
1995	59.7	21.6	-
1996	59.2	21.7	-
1997	62.4	26.0	14.5
1998	64.3	29.0	16.0

The benefits of breastfeeding are enormous and — in a way — obvious: millions of years of evolution have developed mother's milk for the baby — and the cow's milk for her calves. It is the natural and best possible food for a child. The La Leche League enumerates specific benefits thus:

Breastfeeding has been shown to be protective against many illnesses, including painful ear infections, upper and lower respiratory ailments, allergies, intestinal disorders, colds, viruses, staph, strep and e coli infections, diabetes, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, many childhood cancers, meningitis, pneumonia, urinary tract infections, salmonella, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) as well as lifetime protection from Crohn's Disease, ulcerative colitis, some lymphomas, insulin dependent diabetes, and, for girls, breast and ovarian cancer.

One key benefit of breastfeeding is that antibodies made by the mother's mature immune system reach the baby through mother's milk while the baby's immune system is still developing. The mother's body responds to germs from the baby by synthesizing antibodies and passing them through the milk.

The breastfeeding experiences of whites and Hispanics (who may be of any race) are very similar. Black mothers breastfeed at lower rates than white and Hispanic mothers — which, in turn, translates into lower overall health status in the African American community.

Data collected by the government indicate that mothers with the highest education breast- feed most (Bachelor's degree or higher-80.6%, no High School — 43%). Those oldest breastfeed most (30-44 — 71.1%, under 20 — 45.3%). This suggests, indirectly, that breastfeeding is highest at the highest economic strata of the society and lowest at the lowest levels of income and education.

Breastfeeding around the world shows no particular pattern. Rates in the U.S. are better than in India (51%), are about the same as in China (64%), are better than in France (50%), and much worse than in Sweden (98%). The rate in Great Britain is 63%, in Ireland 31%, in Nigeria a surprisingly low 2% — as in Thailand (4%), Paraguay (7%), and the Dominican Republic (10%). Concerning the children who fall into these percentages, we can only agree with Coleridge, that they "on honeydew have fed and drunk the milk of Paradise."

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Data from National Survey of Family Growth, published in Health, United States, 1994 and 2001. Data in table from Ross Laboratories Mothers Surveys, by Ross Products, an element of Abbot Laboratories. Benefits quoted from La Leche League International. Online. Available: http://www.lalecheleague.org.