Dear all:

I just realized something about why breastfeeding slips off the agenda of international 
development programs.  If you are in developing areas of the world, you see lots of 
women breastfeeding openly.   More women start breastfeeding and more continue 
breastfeeding. So, its hard to notice the real problem.  The Lancet article on interventions 
for child survival   estimated from evidence for the impact of exclusive breastfeeding --- 
or in other words the impact of prematurely introducing something other than human milk 
----- before six months of age.  If, only one out of ten infants were prematurely fed 
something other than human milk before six months, the mortality rates would be 13% 
lower.  Globally, three out of five infants are fed something other than human milk before 
six months of age. These statistics do NOT INCLUDE INDUSTRIALIZED countries because 
most do not report statistics on this. In West and Central Africa four out of five infants 
are prematurely fed something other than human milk.  

So, I dug around and found some stats from the DOH in New York State --- 93.3% of 
infants in the US are fed something other than human milk before six months.  Lest you 
think it is five months olds that are starting in on other substances --- 90.2% of infants 
are being fed something other than human milk (although it could be that they are not 
tracking exclusive pumpers in these stats) before three months of age.

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome