Dear Lactnetters -

In light of recent threads discussing issues surrounding the collection of
bf data by Ross, I thought you might be interested to see the first analysis
of the inclusion of bf items on the National Immunization Survey is now
available.  The inclusion of these items on the NIS survey is an attempt to
provide nationally representative bf data from a public health, rather than
commercial source.

Also, in response to a comment that the most recent Ross data available is
from 2000, this is incorrect.  Ross has published their 2001 prevalence data
(the sampling methodology is unchanged from previous studies) in the
December 2002 edition of Pediatrics.  The list of mothers surveyed by Ross
is unrelated to "baby club" participation, etc.  It is gleaned from public
records and sent out regardless of feeding method.

Following is the abstract of the analysis of the initial quarter of
collection of national bf prevalence data through the National Immunization
Survey.  The full text is accessible from http://www.pediatrics.com

Katherine Shealy

PEDIATRICS Vol. 111 No. 5 May 2003, pp. 1198-1201

Prevalence of Breastfeeding in the United States: The 2001 National
Immunization Survey

Ruowei Li, MD, PhD*, Zhen Zhao, PhD, Ali Mokdad, PhD, Lawrence Barker, PhD
and Laurence Grummer-Strawn, PhD*

* Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity
Data Management Division, the National Immunization Program
Division of Adult and Community Health, the National Center for Chronic
Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia

Objective. To address key gaps in the annual monitoring of breastfeeding
prevalence in the United States, 3 breastfeeding questions concerning the
initiation, duration, and exclusivity of breastfeeding were added to the
rotating modules of the National Immunization Survey (NIS) beginning in the
third quarter of 2001. The present study examines the current prevalence of
breastfeeding in the United States using NIS data from this initial quarter.


Methods. The NIS is a random-digit-dialing survey of households with
children aged 19 to 35 months, followed by a mail survey of the eligible
children's vaccination providers to validate the child's vaccination
information. In the third quarter of 2001, a randomly selected subset of
households interviewed in the NIS (N = 896) were asked questions about
breastfeeding.

Results. Almost two thirds (65.1%) of children had ever been breastfed. At 6
and 12 months, 27.0% and 12.3%, respectively, were receiving some breast
milk. Non-Hispanic blacks had the lowest rates of breastfeeding initiation
and continuation. Exclusive breastfeeding rates were low in the United
States with only 7.9% at 6 months.

Conclusions. Although breastfeeding initiation is near the national goal of
75%, breastfeeding continuation lags behind the national goals of 50% and
25% at 6 and 12 months, respectively. Strenuous public health efforts are
needed to improve breastfeeding practices among blacks.

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

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html