Mothers Urged To Breast-Feed At Least A Year

In its most aggressive stance yet, the American Academy of Pediatrics is urging mothers to breast-feed for at least a year - six months longer than previously advised.

The guidelines, issued in an era of shortened hospital stays and more working mothers, also urge employers to provide a place for women to nurse and recommend that insurance companies pay for services like lactation consultations to teach new mothers the basics.

“In addition to individual health benefits, breast-feeding provides significant social and economic benefits to the nation, including reduced health-care costs,” the academy wrote in the December issue of its journal Pediatrics.

Breast-feeding’s advantages include decreasing the incidence of infant ear infections, allergies, diarrhea and bacterial meningitis. It also may protect against childhood lymphoma, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and diabetes. Breast-feeding mothers reduce their risk of ovarian cancer, breast cancer and postmenopausal hip fractures, the article said.

About 60 percent of new mothers breast-feed, though only about 20 percent continue beyond six months. The academy’s goal is to raise that to at least 75 percent initially, hoping that 50 percent will continue through the first six months.

The academy recommends that women breast-feed exclusively for the first six months, when solids are usually introduced, and continue past the child’s first birthday “for as long as mutually desired.”

The new guidelines, replacing a 15-year-old policy, were called overdue by Betty Crase of La Leche League International, a breastfeeding advocacy group.

“What they are doing is coming more in line with world opinion concerning the appropriate length of breast-feeding,” she said Tuesday.

Among other recommendations:

Mothers should begin breast-feeding within the first hour of birth and feed newborns on demand as often as 12 times daily if needed. They should look for signs such as sucking motions, rather than waiting for a baby to cry, which is a late sign of hunger.

Lactation experts should monitor women during the first 12 to 48 hours after delivery, with a follow-up 48 hours to 72 hours after leaving the hospital, to make sure breast-feeding is going smoothly.

Milk should be pumped and stored for later use when breast-feeding directly isn’t possible.

Felicia Jackson, 36, Chicago mother of two, called the guidelines excellent ideas but said they shouldn’t make women who don’t comply feel guilty.