Breastfeeding is on the rise in America, CDC says

Good news for babies: The number of mothers breastfeeding is rising across America. So says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a new report released Thursday. From 2000 to 2008, the proportion of mothers who breastfed their infants rose from 70.3% to 74.6%. Even better, the proportion of mothers who were still breastfeeding after six months jumped from 34.5% to 44.4% during the same period. Why is this good? The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding for a baby’s first six months of life and continued breastfeeding for the second six months, along with solid foods. In a published last year, the academy credited breast milk with reducing the...