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WOMEN HEALTH (4)

Breast-feeding alarmingly low in Black Moms

Breast milk is considered babies' perfect food. Yet, despite a decade of encouraging more American mothers to breast-feed their infants, not enough do. And among black women, breast-feeding is ``alarmingly low,'' according to a government report released by Surgeon General David Satcher.

Only 29 percent of all moms, and 19 percent of black mothers, breast-feed until their babies are 6 months old - a crucial time period, says the report.  It calls for a cultural shift in how the nation regards breast-feeding - with policies to ensure that parents are told routinely why it's so healthy, that hospitals improve teaching of mothers in how to do it, and that workplaces make breast-feeding easier for employees. 

Black women in particular too often get little encouragement, especially because their own mothers likely used infant formula.  Support from the babies' fathers must be also sought, according to the report.

``The culture of breast-feeding has been lost, especially in the low-income African-American community,'' said Dr. Yvonne Bronner of Morgan State University, who is working to counter the racial disparity with education and peer-counseling. 

The government hopes thanks to education by 2010 at least half of mothers will breast-feed exclusively until age 6 months, when solid foods are added, and at least 25 percent will continue breast-feeding until the baby's first birthday. 

Why is breast-feeding so much better than formula?  Breast-fed babies suffer fewer illnesses such as diarrhea, earache, pneumonia and other infections.  Studies suggest breast-fed babies also may be less likely to develop asthma, diabetes or childhood cancer.  Their brains seem to develop faster, their immune systems respond better to vaccines and they are less likely to become fat later in childhood. (Source: AP)

 FROM THE HEALTH BEHAVIOR NEWS SERVICE:

July 23, 2003

Education, Working Status Affect Likelihood of Breastfeeding

     By Aaron Levin, Staff Writer
     Health Behavior News Service

Rural mothers who work fulltime and do not have advanced education are
less likely to breastfeed their babies than nonworking women who have
college degrees, according to a new study.

In a study published in the July-August issue of the American Journal
of Health Behavior, Wendy Hellerstedt, M.P.H., Ph.D., and colleagues of
the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota report that
education and working status affect whether or not rural women
breastfeed their babies and for how long.

Many experts believe that breastfeeding is important because human milk
is the ideal food for infants, at least up to 6 months old.
Breastfeeding is associated with reduced childhood illnesses, improved immune
function and potential protection from some health problems in later
childhood or adulthood.

Hellerstedt’s used a larger study of immunizations and well-baby care
in an economically depressed, 13-county area of northwestern Minnesota
for her study. The region had the lowest per capita incomes and the
poorest measures of babies’ and mothers’ health in the state outside
metropolitan areas.

Across the United States, other researchers have found that people in
rural areas have lower average education levels, lower incomes, more
children, more teen births and inadequate economic, social welfare and
health resources

The women in the Minnesota study were mostly white and married. Their
average age was 28.5 years, but participants ranged from 18 to 46 years
old. When contacted four to 16 months after giving birth, mothers in
the survey were asked if they had breastfed their babies and for how
long.

Of the 414 women, 253 reported ever having breastfed their infants, and
of those, 155 (61 percent) reported breastfeeding for more than three
months. On average, the women breastfed their babies for 4.4 months.

Educational level and working status affected breastfeeding practices,
Hellerstedt says. Women with a college education and who worked less
than fulltime were three times more likely to breastfeed infants than
women who worked fulltime and had less than a college education.

The same associations held for duration of breastfeeding. When
considering women who breastfed their infants for longer than three months,
those who had completed college or who were not employed fulltime tended
to breastfeed longer than less-educated, working women.

Hellerstedt also found that older mothers (in the age 31-46 group) were
two to three and a half times more likely continue breastfeeding.

The implications of educational attainment are important, since fewer
rural women have college degrees.

“We are aware that rural women are educationally disadvantaged compared
to urban women,” says Hellerstedt.  “Twice as many urban women [as
rural women] have four-year college degrees.”

Her work may also suggest that job status plays a role in
breastfeeding.

“It may be that women who are employed full-time but are less than
college-educated are employed in positions that do not allow them the
flexibility to meet their infant’s nursing needs,” Hellerstedt says.

# # #

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Health Behavior News Service: (202) 387-2829 or www.hbns.org.
Interviews: Contact Wendy L. Hellerstedt at (612) 624-1818 or
hell023@umn.edu.
American Journal of Health Behavior: Visit www.ajhb.org or e-mail
eglover@hsc.wvu.edu.

 

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