Quam
No. 36
October 2010
Statistical Brief
A Publication of the State Center for Health Statistics
1908 Mail Service Center • Raleigh, NC 27699-1908
(919) 733-4728 • www.schs.state.nc.us/SCHS
Twenty -year Trends in Breastfeeding Initiation in North Carolina:
Results from the North Carolina Child Health Assessment and
Monitoring Program (CHAMP) Survey
by
Donna R. Miles, Ph.D.
Harry Herrick, M.S.P.H., M.S.W., M.Ed.
Introduction
Major medical and health organizations endorse
breastfeeding as the most beneficial type of nutrition
to ensure the health and well-being of most infants,
and recommend that mothers breastfeed exclusively
for at least six months, with continued breastfeeding
at least through the infant’s first year.1-3 Previous
studies document the numerous benefits related to
breastfeeding duration and exclusivity for infants’
general health, growth, development, and protection
against acute or chronic diseases, including otitis
media, respiratory tract infections, atopic dennatitis,
gastroenteritis, type 2 diabetes, sudden infant death
syndrome, and obesity.4 Promotion and support of
breastfeeding is an important public health initiative,
as highlighted through the Healthy People 2010
national health objective to increase the proportion of
mothers that breastfeed in the early postpartum period
to 75 percent.5
In 1971, breastfeeding rates reached an all-time
low in the United States with only 25 percent of
mothers initiating breastfeeding.6 Rates of initiation
dramatically increased from 1971 to 1982 (62%),
but then declined from 1983 to 1989.7 Since 1990,
the prevalence of breastfeeding initiation has been
continually rising, from 52 percent in 1990 to 74
percent in 2009. 8-10 Although improvements have
been observed across all demographic subgroups,
trends in breastfeeding have been found to vary by
both maternal characteristics, such as race, ethnicity,
age and parental education, as well as geographic
location. The largest rate increases in breastfeeding
initiation have been observed among mothers with
traditionally low rates of initiation, including African
Americans, mothers with a high school education or
less, and mothers living in the southern states."
The purpose of this report is to examine changes over
time in the prevalence of breastfeeding initiation in
North Carolina. Through the Child Health Assessment
and Monitoring Program (CHAMP) 2005-2009
surveys, breastfeeding history was collected on
children (ages 0 to 17 years) born between 1989 and
nc department
of health and
human services
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
Department of Health and Human Services
Division of Public Health
North Carolina
Public Health
