This Week Is World Breastfeeding Week
It’s World Breastfeeding Week, and we’re celebrating by sharing updated breastfeeding data for California. Breast milk is widely acknowledged as the most complete form of nutrition for infants, and offers variety of benefits for infant health, growth, and development. Breastfeeding also offers multiple health advantages to mothers, including reducing breast and ovarian cancer risk. Increasing the proportion of children who are breastfed during the first year of life — as well as the proportion who are breastfed exclusively up to the age of three months — are important public health goals.
According to the California Department of Public Health, in 2009, 52% of infants in California were breastfed exclusively in the hospital after birth. Among counties, percentages of exclusive breastfeeding ranged widely from 14% to 86%. Find data for your county >>
Percentages also ranged among racial/ethnic groups; Caucasian/White infants had the highest exclusive breastfeeding percentages, while Hispanic/Latino and African American infants had the lowest.
Learn more about breastfeeding >>
Tags: Child Health Issues, Health Observances
Posted by kidsdata.org
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