In a message dated 10/7/98 3:21:24 PM Central Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes: << Ann, I do not find these statistics believable. That of the mothers who left the hospital breastfeeding in 1997, 62.4% were still nursing at 6 months. Who are they kidding?? So many women give up in the first few weeks, or nurse for only 6 weeks and wean when they go back to work. I simply cannot believe that well more than half of the moms who left the hospital breastfeeding are still doing so at 6 months. Does this sound "off" to anyone else out there? Has there been a quiet revolution that none of the researchers are aware of? >> No, she means that of the 62.4% of women who initiated bf in the hospital, 41% were still bf at 6 months. Nearly half? I find that difficult to believe. However, translated into raw numbers: If there were 4,000,000 births (approximately -- give or take one or two) in 1997, that means that 2, 496,000 initiated bf. Of those women, 1,023, 360 continued for 6 months. What I'd like to know is, WHERE ARE THEY ALL? Jan Barger - who wouldn't do this number crunching without a calculator.