Poll: Which steps does your hospital take to support breastfeeding?
The CDC has released a report on the state of breastfeeding support in US hospitals, Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care, which found that less than 4% of US hospitals provided the full range of support a mother needs to be able to breastfeed, and only about one quarter of the hospitals support mothers and babies at discharge with the services they need, be it a follow-up visit, a phone call from hospital staff, or referrals to lactation consultants, WIC, and other important community support systems.
The CDC has released a report on the state of breastfeeding support in US hospitals, Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care, which found that less than 4% of US hospitals provided the full range of support a mother needs to be able to breastfeed, and only about one quarter of the hospitals support mothers and babies at discharge with the services they need, be it a follow-up visit, a phone call from hospital staff, or referrals to lactation consultants, WIC, and other important community support systems. In addition, the report found that only 14% of hospitals have a written breastfeeding policy, and in nearly 80% of hospitals healthy breastfeeding infants are given formula when it is not medically necessary.
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