Breast-feeding lags among N.C. moms

North Carolina newborns run a higher risk of developing chronic health problems because a smaller percentage of mothers in this state start out breast-feeding their babies than the U.S. average.

Even fewer babies are receiving breast milk exclusively at six months, which is the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics for averting future health problems.

About 66 percent of North Carolina mothers breast-feed their newborns, compared to the national average of 74 percent, according to a report released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 9 percent of North Carolina 6-month-olds get only breast milk -- placing North Carolina in the bottom 20 in the CDC ranking of states.

Dr. Miriam H. Labbok, a UNC-Chapel Hill public health professor, said higher breast-feeding rates could save the lives of as many as 50 babies a year. But she sees plenty of good news, too, including increased interest from state officials to improve North Carolina's breast-feeding rate.

"Those behaviors have real long-term health impacts," said Labbok, director of the university's Center for Infant and Young Child Feeding and Care. "We're at a tipping point."

Challenges

Breast-feeding is the natural way to feed an infant, but it's not necessarily easy. Many women struggle to get it right.

Labbok and other breast-feeding advocates say society and health care professionals often don't make it easy for women.

On Wednesday, two Chapel Hill health care facilities received awards from the N.C. Breastfeeding Coalition for not distributing free gift bags from infant formula companies to new mothers. They are the N.C. Women's Hospital at UNC Health Care, and the Women's Birth and Wellness Center in Chapel Hill, the state's only out-of-hospital birthing center.

The freebies are a long-standing tradition at hospitals, though some studies have shown that women who delivered at hospitals that distribute the bags quit breast-feeding earlier.

"It makes a product available that a breast-feeding mother doesn't need but can give her a feeling of, 'Oh, well if this isn't working, the formula is there and maybe this would be better for the baby,' " said Nancy Albrecht, a nurse and lactation consultant at the Women's Birth and Wellness Center. The center never gave mothers the freebie formula bags.

The decision to halt this practice moves the N.C. Women's Hospital, part of the state's flagship medical center, closer to becoming designated a Baby Friendly Hospital, a UNICEF and World Health Organization initiative aimed at encouraging breast-feeding.

"It's fun to be one of the leaders in this state," said Mary Rose Tully, director of lactation services at the N.C. Women's Hospital.

Marisa Salcines, a spokeswoman for the Atlanta-based International Formula Council, said some studies have shown that the free bags really have no impact on how long a woman breast-feeds.

She said that many women have made up their minds before they deliver and that the bags just offer more information about feeding options for newborns.

"We should trust moms to make the best decision for themselves and their babies," she said.

Focusing on improving conditions for working mothers so they can continue breast-feeding, not worrying about what they take home from the hospital, is the key to increasing breast-feeding rates, Salcines said.

Duke Hospital, Rex Hospital, and WakeMed Health and Hospitals' Raleigh and Cary campuses distribute the bags, but both Duke and WakeMed take out the free formula samples given to moms who are breast-feeding, hospital representatives said this week.