Surgeon General Releases

October, 2000 - In an effort to increase the number of American women breastfeeding, the U.S. Surgeon General has released a Blueprint for Action on Breastfeeding. The blueprint promotes a plan for increased breastfeeding based on education, training, awareness, support and research.

The blueprint, which was developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Women's Health, is based on the recommendation that infants be exclusively breastfed for the first four to six months of life - preferably for a full six months - and that breastfeeding should continue through the first year of life.

Current statistics reveal that 64 percent of U.S. women breastfeed in the early postpartum period, and 29 percent of them continue to breastfeed six months after birth. However, there are extremely low breastfeeding rates among African American women. In 1998, 45 percent of African American mothers breastfed in the early postpartum period, compared to 66 percent of Hispanic mothers and 68 percent of white mothers.

"Low breastfeeding rates documented in the Blueprint for Action are a serious public health challenge, particularly in certain minority communities," said David Satcher, M.D., U.S. Surgeon General and Assistant Secretary for Health. "With scientific evidence indicating that breastfeeding can play an important role in an infant's health, the time has come for us to work together to promote optimal breastfeeding practices. Each of us, at all levels of the public and private sectors, must now turn these recommendations into programs that best suit the needs of our own communities."

Healthy People 2010, the United States' comprehensive plan of health care goals, calls for 75 percent of mothers to be breastfeeding in the early post-partum period. The Blueprint for Action may help the United States achieve that goal.

"The Healthy People objectives will be realized only when we work together to put in place culturally appropriate strategies to promote breastfeeding, with particular emphasis on education and support from health care professionals, employers and family members, especially fathers and grandmothers," said Wanda Jones, Dr.P.H., Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health (Women's Health) and director of the Office on Women's Health.

The blueprint suggest steps that the health care system, the community, researchers, employers and families can do to better focus attention on the importance of breastfeeding.

Blueprint for action within the health care system:

Train health care professionals who provide maternal and
     child care on the basics of lactation, breastfeeding counseling
     and lactation management during internship residency,
     in-service training, and continuing education.

Assure that breastfeeding mothers have access to
     comprehensive, up-to-date, and culturally tailored lactation
     services provided by trained physicians, nurses, nutritionists,
     and lactation consultants.

Establish hospital and maternity center practices that promote
breastfeeding such as the "Ten Steps to Successful
Breastfeeding."

Develop breastfeeding education for women, their partners
and other significant family members during the prenatal and
postnatal visits.

Blueprint for action within the workplace:

Facilitate breastfeeding or breast milk expression in the
     workplace by providing private rooms, milk storage
     arrangements, adequate breaks during the day, flexible work
     schedules, and onsite child care facilities.

Establish family and community programs that enable
breastfeeding continuation when women return to work in all
possible settings.

Encourage child care facilities to provide quality breastfeeding
support.

Blueprint for action within the family and community setting:

Develop social support and information resources for
breastfeeding women such as hotlines, peer counseling,
mother-to-mother support groups, etc.

Launch a public health marketing campaign portraying
breastfeeding as normal, desirable and achievable.

Encourage the media to portray breastfeeding as normal,
desirable and achievable for women of all cultures and
socioeconomic levels.

Encourage fathers and other family members to be actively
involved throughout the breastfeeding experience.

Visit the Centers for Disease Control Website or the National Women's Health Information Center Website to download a complete version of the Blueprint for Action on Breastfeeding.