Hospital Support for Breastfeeding infographic

This figure shows the percentage of any and exclusive breastfeeding by month since birth among US infants born in 2008, ranging from birth to six months. Seventy-five percent of mothers initiate, or start breastfeeding. At one month forty-six percent are exclusively breastfeeding and sixty-nine percent are breastfeeding at all. At three months thirty-five percent are exclusively breastfeeding, and fifty-nine percent are breastfeeding at all. At six months, fifteen percent are exclusively breastfeeding and forty-four percent are breastfeeding at all.

This figure shows the percentage of US hospitals with recommended policies and practices to support breastfeeding in 2007 and in 2009. Those policies and practices include a model breastfeeding policy, staff competency assessment, prenatal breastfeeding education, early initiation of breastfeeding, teaching breastfeeding techniques, limited use of supplements, rooming-in, teaching feeding cues, limited use of pacifiers and post-discharge support. In 2009 seventeen percent of hospitals had a model breastfeeding policy. In 2009 twenty-two percent of hospitals limited the use of supplements. In 2009 thirty-three percent of hospitals practiced rooming-in. And in 2009 twenty-seven percent of hospitals offered post-discharge support.

This figure shows the percent of hospitals by number of recommended policies and practices to support breastfeeding in 2009. Four percent of hospitals had either nine or ten of these policies and practices. Thirty-three percent had six to eight of these practices. Fifty-four percent of hospitals had three to five of these practices. Nine percent had zero to two of these practices.

This figure shows US state information regarding the percentage of births at Baby-Friendly facilities in 2011. About five percent of US babies are born in hospitals that are designated Baby-Friendly. Nebraska and Alaska are the only two states with twenty percent or more hospitals designated Baby-Friendly. Only five states have ten to nineteen percent of their hospitals designated as Baby-Friendly. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia had no hospitals designated Baby-Friendly. The rest of the states had nine percent of less of their hospitals designated Baby-Friendly.