Surgeon General advises more breastfeeding
January 24th, 2011 - 9:04 pm ICT by Aishwarya BhattWashington DC, Jan 24 (THAINDIAN NEWS) The Surgeon General’s call for action to support breastfeeding has been upheld by The American Dietetic Association.
Regina Benjamin urged American mothers to breastfeed their children more in a report that was issued on Thursday. The report called on all people to help mothers to breastfeed their children. The report mentioned the many benefits that breastfeeding has. Studies have shown that breastfeeding helps develop babies’ IQ and they also help in the development of the immune system to fight off common conditions in babies like diarrhea and pneumonia.
The American Dietetic Association (ADA) supported the call fully. The spokesperson for the group, Melinda Johnson, said that, “Breastfeeding is the optimal feeding method for an infant, and women who choose to breastfeed should be encouraged and supported, given the numerous health benefits for both the mother and child.”
The ADA’s official; position on breastfeeding is that mothers should exclusively breastfeed their children until six months and afterwards continue breastfeeding until at least 12 months.
Mothers currently face many challenges that prevent them from breastfeeding for that long. Chief among the challenges is career commitments that make it almost impossible to properly breastfeed the baby.
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- 2 in 3 Brit mothers hesitate to breastfeed over fear of people staring - Jul 05, 2009
- A quiet revolution saving rural children's lives (Aug 1-7 is World Breastfeeding Week) - Jul 31, 2011
- Breastfeeding benefits 'greatly exaggerated', says expert - Jul 23, 2009
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Tags: 12 months, american dietetic association, american mothers, association ada, babies, career commitments, challenges, diarrhea, health benefits, immune system, iq, jan 24, melinda johnson, mother and child, pneumonia, regina, six months, spokesperson, surgeon general, washington dc