August marks National Breastfeeding Month

In recognition of National Breastfeeding Month, the Division of Public Health and the Breastfeeding Coalition of Delaware are encouraging Delawareans to learn the facts about breastfeeding and support breastfeeding mothers they know. DPH had several activities to celebrate the occasion.

"Breastfeeding starts infants on a healthy life course because it is the optimal nutrition for infants and protects them from many illnesses and diseases," said DPH Director Dr. Karyl Rattay.

Breastfeeding protects babies from sudden infant death syndrome, diarrhea, ear infections, pneumonia, allergies and asthma. Babies who are breastfed exclusively for six months are less likely to become obese. The benefits of breastfeeding are dose-related; the more breast milk a baby receives, the greater the protection for both mother and baby. Mothers who breastfeed have less risk of breast and ovarian cancers and lose pregnancy weight faster.

The nation's Healthy People 2020 initiative, issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, calls for mothers to breastfeed their infants for at least one year after birth. Of Delaware infants born in 2011, 13.2 percent were breastfed exclusively through six months, compared to 18.8 percent nationally and the Healthy People 2020 goal of 25.5 percent. At one year, 16.8 percent of Delaware infants born in 2011 were breastfed, compared with 26.7 percent nationally and the Healthy People 2020 goal of 34.1 percent.

Delaware is making significant progress in breastfeeding support due to the collaboration of health systems, state agencies and private citizens.

Successes include:

´• Supporting legislation that mandates breastfeeding support in the workplace for all employers and employees in the state.
• Including breastfeeding support in state child care regulations and providing training opportunities for child care providers.
• Promoting Breastfeeding Peer Counselors who are providing support to families in 16 locations across the state through public-private partnerships under the Delaware Women, Infants and Children Program. Between 2005 and 2015, breastfeeding initiation among WIC participants increased from 35 percent to 54 percent.
• Training 30 lay people across the state to increase breastfeeding support for women of color as part of the GEM Project – Generating Equity for our Mothers.
• Training 499 healthcare providers and staff across the state in practice-based breastfeeding support through the DPH EPIC-BEST program: Educating Providers in the Community Breastfeeding Education and Support Training.
• Eliminating formula gift bags in all hospitals. This is a nationwide effort supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
• Recognizing that four out of six labor and delivery hospitals in Delaware have been designated as Baby Friendly, an international designation which recognizes facilities that provide the information, confidence and skills to support infant feeding and mother-baby bonding: Beebe Healthcare, Bayhealth Kent General Hospital, Bayhealth Milford Memorial Hospital and Christiana Care Health Systems. Approximately 79 percent of births in Delaware now occur in facilities designated as Baby Friendly.
• Promoting quality improvement efforts related to breastfeeding support at Saint Francis Hospital and Nanticoke General Hospital.

If 90 percent 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 (through fewer doctor's visits, prescriptions and hospitalizations). According to the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General, U.S. households with breastfed infants can save between $1,200 and $1,500 in infant formula expenditures in the first year.

For more information, go to www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding.