Daer Friends:

In the US, the Ross survey is not health statistics, but a collection of
marketing data. I believe that only 3 types of women are surveyed:
European-American, African-American and Hispanic. No Asians. No Native or
indigenous peoples.

The CDC is a survey of a representative sample of women across the country,
and is a true collection of statistics. Folks are called at home and asked
questions. The numbers for breastfeeding are not quite a straight line,
there is a very slight upward slope over the past 5 years. However,
exclusive bf rates have dropped over the past few years.

A 3rd source of information (yes, this is as confusing as the new figure
skating judging system) is the mother's response to the question "How is the
baby fed at  hospital discharge?"  on the birth certificate worksheet.
That's where the City Department of Health gets their numbers.

A 4th source of numbers is the WIC statistics, based on how much
supplemental formula is given and what women report about breastfeeding.
However, those numbers are only for the WIC population.

A 5th source of numbers is the individual hospitals. In my city, the
hospital LCs keep track of the mothers they see and that yields another
source of numbers.

This is what I understand today. I could be wrong.........anybody else want
to elucidate further?

warmly,
Nikki Lee

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