More than 80 percent of U.S. mothers breastfeed their newborns, a new survey finds, but fewer than a third keep doing so for the recommended minimum of one year, a new survey finds.
Many studies support breastfeeding for as long as possible, and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies get nothing but human breast milk until the age of six months — and that they continue to breastfeed for at least a year.
“Breastfeeding decreases the possibility that your baby will get a variety of infectious diseases, ear infections, diarrhea, etc.,” the Academy says in its guidance.
“Breastfeeding mothers return to their pre-pregnancy weight faster and have a reduced risk of breast and ovarian cancer.”
But American women struggle to breastfeed for that long.
The survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 81 percent of U.S. babies born in 2013 were breastfed from birth. “This high percentage of babies who start out breastfeeding shows that most mothers want to breastfeed and are trying to do so,” the CDC said in a statement. Get the full story here …