Karleen, I'm not a statistician nor epidemiologist.  But I took a look at
the CDC's survey methods used to collect the data to arrive at rates for BF
initation, exclusivity and duration (at
http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/data/NIS_data/survey_methods.htm ) --
including the wording of the questions they used to collect the BF
data.  The qeustions were part of the [US] National Immunzation Survey. The
sample is pretty big:  "This nationwide survey provides current national,
state, and selected urban-area estimates of vaccination coverage rates for
U.S. children ages 19 to 35 months. Since July 2001, breastfeeding questions
have been asked on the NIS to assess the population's breastfeeding
practices."  When you look at the page above, the BF questions are listed
right there ... including how the wording was tweaked in different years to
"get at" that exclusivity notion.

I think the CDC (which does use statisticians and epidemiologists) would be
alarmed to realize they got it wrong by as much as 8 percentage points.
They report 13% exclusive BF at 6 months; your post suggests the number is
closer to 5%.  What is the basis for your conclusion that 5% is the more
accurate rate?

Liz Brooks JD IBCLC FILCA
Wyndmoor, PA, USA

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