Just a quick follow-up to Katherine Shealy's update on breastfeeding
statistics. Much work went into placing breastfeeding questions into the data
collection process in the US public health system. This concept originated at
meetings of the Breastfeeding Promotion Consortium, facilitated by the US
Department of Agriculture. I represent ILCA at this group. There is also
representation from LLLI, NABA, AAP, etc and many government agencies. The
Healthy People 2010 goals on breastfeeding utilize data from the Ross Mothers
Survey. At the urging of a number of people from the breastfeeding community
that breastfeeding data be collected through means other than formula
companies, the CDC stepped forward and placed questions on the National
Immunization Survey. This allows breastfeeding to be tracked from the public
health standpoint, not the commercial marketing view.

Background on how breastfeeding data is collected in the US can be read in an
article from the Journal of Human Lactation, November 2000, Vol 16 (4).
Grummer-Strawn L, Li R. US National Surveillance of Breastfeeding Behavior.

Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC
Weston, MA

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