Breastfeeding Rates Are Up! How to Succeed at Breastfeeding
Photo: Shutterstock / The BumpMore moms are breastfeeding their babies. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its annual Breastfeeding Report Card and found that 76.9 percent of moms initiated breastfeeding at birth in 2009; that’s a two percent increase from the year before (74.6 percent). This is the largest annual increase over the last ten years. At age six months, the CDC says about 47.2 percent of babies were still being breastfed, an increase from 44.3 percent. And at one year, the rate was 25.5 percent, up from 23.8 percent.
The CDC says its main goal is to improve the health of mothers and babies and that “protecting, promoting, and supporting breastfeeding, with its many known benefits for infants, children, and mothers, is a key strategy toward this goal.” In other words, they want to keep these stats on an upswing, since there are so many health benefits to breastfeeding. A few of the ways they want to help moms succeed at breastfeeding include more breastfeeding support for new moms in hospitals and birth centers, more access to lactation consultants and better regulations to make sure child care centers support breastfeeding moms.
Did you/do you breastfeed? What do you think helped you make the decision (and stick to it)?
Plus, more from The Bump:
The Right Way to Start Breastfeeding
Should Hospitals Lock Away the Formula?
All Your Breastfeeding Questions Answered
The Knot Blog
The Nest Blog
I love breastfeeding. It was so hard that first week and there was a lot of tears but I am so glad I stuck with it. There is nothing like looking down at your child to see them staring up at you then they pull off to give you a milky grin. It is awesome to put on scratchs (we all know how babies scratch themselves) and I love that when I’m sick my baby is getting all those antibodies. Breastmilk is amazing stuff.
My boy turns 1 year in a week and we’re still breastfeeding, although I’ve been back to work since he was 5 months. I was quite determined before hand to stick to breastfeeding for a year if I could, and I had the support of my husband and family which helped. I was very much helped by reading an excellent breastfeeding book a few months before I delivered (The Nursing Mother’s Companion) and having a sister in law who delivered 4 months before me which gave me an idea of what kind of problems I could expect. When I ran into little snags, I was far less panicked and much more patient that I think I would have been otherwise.
In the later stages, I think patience was the key. It helps if you can go with the flow when he starts liking to pop off and walk around a bit before coming back to the breast or sometimes needs to be taking somewhere dark and quiet to focus. I can see how this can be frustrating for many, but it helped me to adopt the attitude, “This is a phase- I get distracted during my meals sometimes too.” The nipping phase during teething (doesn’t happen with all babies, but did with mine) also required patience! All in all I’m very glad I’ve stuck with it this long. Not only am I confident my baby is getting a solid nutritional/immune system boost, but I am more than 10 pounds lighter than my pre-pregnancy weight and I haven’t had to buy pads in a year!
Breast feeding is easy…. said no one ever! but worth it? Yes! While breastfeeding is out right one of the most demanding challenges ive experienced as a new mother, it has become one of the most rewarding. There is a great sense of comfort knowing I’m giving my daughter the best start possible.
Breastfeeding IS easy once you and baby get the hang of it. I breastfed my son for 22mo. I intended to breastfeed for 12mo but my son had an allergy to cows milk and his doctor said it would be best to continue until he outgrew the allergy which he eventually did. I think breastfeeding is a million times easier that bottle feeding after the first few weeks. You never have to get up to make bottles or pack them when you travel. There is no mixing or stinky formula. We never had issues with spit up which means less dirty clothes. We never had to heat bottles or rush out for formula when we were running low. Breastfeeding is FREE. You never have to wonder if baby is getting what they need or if it is safe. Ever hear of a breastmilk recall??? Nope because its perfect food for baby always the right temperature and right mixture of what baby needs every time
Once you and baby are used to it you can both do it half asleep. You can’t go to the kitchen and make a bottle while still laying in bed with your eyes shut. It may be harder short term but long term breastfeeding is the easiest thing ever!