Breastfeeding

A recent news article titled "Study: Lack of breastfeeding costs lives, billions of dollars" says

• "If most new moms would breastfeed their babies for the first six months of life, it would save nearly 1,000 lives and billions of dollars each year."
  
• "The United States incurs $13 billion in excess costs annually and suffers 911 preventable deaths per year because our breastfeeding rates fall far below medical recommendations."
  
• The World Health Organization says infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life "to achieve optimal growth, development and health." The WHO is not alone in its recommendations. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention all agree that breast milk alone is sufficient for newborns and infants until they are 6 months old.
  
• However, a 2009 breastfeeding report card from the CDC found that only 74% of women start breastfeeding, only 33% were still exclusively breastfeeding at three months and only 14% were still exclusively breastfeeding at six months.
  
• Dr. Melissa Bartick, one of the study's co-authors, says the vast majority of extra costs incurred each year could be saved "if 80 to 90 percent of women exclusively breastfed for as little as four months and if 90% of women would breastfeed some times until six months."

Talk to your daughter about your experiences with breastfeeding. Then help her research the benefits of breastfeeding her child, and help her learn successful positions and techniques.