"If you don't ask the question, you'll never have to deal with the answer."
We (in Ohio) have been fighting, testifying, writing, arguing etc for at
least 8 years to get the state health department to collect data on feeding
status for all infants under age two at EVERY contact those infants have
with the health system. Anytime a provider gets a baby's name and birth
date, they should be getting feeding data.  With a couple of years worth of
data like that, we'd have the data to document the risks of artificial
feeding.

Check out the excellent article in the current (Nov 2000) issue of the
Journal of Human lactation by Laurence Grummer-Strawn and Ruowei Li called
"US National Surveillance of Breastfeeding Behavior."  The Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention should be congratulated for their efforts,
and supported for asking for even better data collection.

By the way, check out CDC's new breastfeeding site/area:
www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding.

Linda J. Smith, BSE, FACCE, IBCLC
Bright Future Lactation Resource Centre www.bflrc.com
6540 Cedarview Ct., Dayton, OH 45459-1214 USA
(937) 438-9458 email [log in to unmask]

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