Fact Sheet - Breastfeeding

• From birth to about 4 months of age, babies average 8 to 12 nursings in a day. At 4 to 6 months of age, the average is about six times a day. At 6 to 8 months, babies average about four to five times a day. At 9 to 12 months, the average baby nurses only about three to four times a day, but is still taking in large volumes of milk at these few nursing sessions. Babies older than 12 months should be eating a full diet of three meals and two to three snacks and averaging only one to three nursings per day.

• Studies have shown that infants who are breastfed are less likely to develop diabetes mellitus, obesity, Celiac disease, asthma, allergies, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Infants who are breastfed have reduced incidence and severity of ear infections, pneumonia, diarrhea, urinary tract infections, and necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).

 

• Among babies born in Alabama in 2002 at a normal birth weight, 58.2% were breastfed. Among babies born at a low birth weight, 49.9% were breastfed. This is related to hospital practice, since low weight babies are often separated from their mothers and put in neonatal intensive care nurseries, which may discourage breastfeeding. The percent of low birth weight babies being breastfed has increased by 89.0% since 1993, while the percent of normal birth weight babies being breastfed has increased by 25.7%.

• As babies learn to nurse well, a feeding pattern will begin to form. With older babies (4 months and older), mothers can expect feedings to be farther apart and shorter in length. Older exclusively breastfed babies usually continue to nurse at least six times a day, but the nursing may be for periods as short as five minutes at a time.

 

• In 1998, 80% of mothers in California chose to breastfeed at the time of hospital discharge. Although this percentage exceeds the 2010 health objective, only 44%of these mothers chose to exclusively breastfeed. This means that more than half of the mothers who chose to breastfeed were already supplementing with formula prior to hospital discharge. Given that early formula supplementation leads to a downward spiral of a decreasing milk supply and an increasing reliance upon formula, too few women in California breastfeed beyond the first few weeks after birth.

 

• In California, breastfeeding rates vary widely by region. In 1998, the percent of newborns exclusively breastfed at hospital discharge ranged from 22% in Imperial County to 85% in Marin, Nevada, and Trinity counties. Counties with low initiation rates tend to be in the Central Valley and high initiation rates tend to be in the coastal and mountain regions of California.

 

• Breastfeeding reduces the incidence and severity of bacterial infections, such as meningitis, lower respiratory infections, and bacteremia in infants. Breastfed infants have an 80% decreased risk for lower respiratory infections. Formula-fed infants in the United States have a ten-fold higher risk of being hospitalized for a bacterial infection.

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