The results of a 2007 survey conducted by investigators from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention suggest that maternity centres in the US could be doing more to encourage breastfeeding.
Numerous reports have linked breastfeeding to better developmental outcomes for babies. Whether maternity centres in the US support this practice, however, was unclear.
According to the report, many centres engage in practises that actually interfere with breastfeeding, including supplementing breastfed newborns with fluids other than breast milk, separating mothers and infants for routine procedures, and providing pacifiers to the infants during the hospital stay.
The findings, which appear in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, indicate that on a 100-point scale (100 = best) for overall breastfeeding support, the average score for the nearly 2 700 birth facilities studied in the US and Puerto Rico was 63.
Regionally, centres in the south of the country often scored lower with averages ranging from 48 to 58. Conversely, New England and Western states typically had higher scores than other states. Vermont and New Hampshire shared the highest score, 81.
In addition to the overall score, components of breastfeeding support were rated on a 100-point scale. For the country overall, the scores were 60 for labour and delivery, 80 for breastfeeding assistance, 70 for mother-newborn contact, 77 for postpartum feeding, 40 for breastfeeding support after hospital discharge, 51 for breastfeeding training and education by a nurse or birth attendant, and 66 for structural and organisational quality.
"These findings underscore the importance of improving the way hospitals and birth centres provide assistance, encouragement and support for breastfeeding," Dr. Laurence Grummer-Strawn, from the CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, said in a statement. "We have a great deal of work to do to accomplish our national objectives related to breastfeeding, and birth facilities can make a huge contribution to this effort."