The Chicago Tribune is quoted as having written,

<< In 1999, two-thirds of women breastfed their newborns in the hospital, the
 highest rate since the figure was first recorded in 1965, according to the
 Ross Products Division of Abbott Laboratories, the infant formula
 manufacturer that has been the nation's primary source of breastfeeding
 rates for decades. The figure drops to 31 percent at six months and 17
 percent at one year, more than double the levels at those intervals a decade
 earlier. >>

I hope it's true that the 1999 rate is up.   However, the last sentence is
misleading, if not false.   In 1989 the 6 mos rate was 18.1 (according to
Ross documents), so that 31 percent is certainly *less* than double -- and
it's barely more at all than the rate of 27% of all babies to 6 mos that Ross
reported for 1982.   Moreover, the first year Ross reported statistics for
one year was 1997, so we have no idea how many one-year olds were bf a decade
ago.

Nitpicky, but them's the facts.

Elisheva

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