News about breast feeding in US good and bad

In 2007, three-quarters of babies born in the USA were breast-fed at least briefly, continuing a decade-long increase, but the proportion still being breast-fed at 6 months and 12 months old had stalled, according to a "report card" Monday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The percentage of babies who had ever been breast-fed met the goal set by the government's Health People 2010. But the proportion still being breast-fed at 6 months, 43%, and 12 months, 22%, fell short of the Healthy People 2010 goals of 50% and 25%, respectively, the CDC's fourth annual Breastfeeding Report Card said.

Bonnie - these numbers are slowly trending upwards, which is a great sign. I highly recommend to all my clients who are new mothers to breast feed for at least one year. However, even several months of breast feeding is huge. For many in today's world, breast feeding is difficult to stick with, but the positive affect not just on your child, but for several future generations, makes the struggle very worthwhile.