Celebrate World Breastfeeding Week 2012
This week, August 1st through August 7th, marks the 20th anniversary of World Breastfeeding Week. Though health organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization support exclusive breastfeeding for at least the first six months of a child’s life to receive the full health benefits, only a little more than half of newborns (56.8%) in California were exclusively breastfed in the hospital after birth, according to 2010 data.
Counties with the highest percentages of exclusively breastfed infants include Trinity County (87.1%), Shasta County (86.7%), and Nevada County (85.6%).
According to 2010 data, 74% of Caucasian/white infants and 67% of multiracial infants in California were breastfed exclusively in the hospital after birth, the highest percentages of all racial/ethnic groups with available data.
Infants who are breastfed receive protection against infections, allergies, and other serious health conditions. In addition, studies have shown that breastfeeding helps mothers in the recovery process post-childbirth, can reduce the risk of breast and ovarian cancer, and may even minimize the chances of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Breastfeeding is not recommended, however, for women who use certain prescription drugs, test positive for HIV, or have active, untreated tuberculosis.
For more information on breastfeeding, please visit the breastfeeding section on kidsdata.org.
Posted by Lindsey Nguyen
This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 1st, 2012 at 2:24 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.