Child Development and Public Health

As I plan to start my own family within the next year, the topic of breastfeeding seems to come up often. My mother chose not to breastfeed me because I could never get the latching part down. According to the CDC, 79% of newborns are breastfed in the United States in 2014. Preschools here are creating rooms at their facilities so mothers can come pump or breastfeed in a comfortable environment. The city of New York City provides a course to become a certified lactation counselor to help staff who work in their newborn home care program to help educate and support new mothers that plan to breastfeed. These such programs are not available in other parts of the world to help aid mothers.

Breastfeeding in West and Central Africa

Exclusive breastfeeding in these parts of Africa is only at 20% where in certain countries is as low as 2% which are some of the lowest rates in the world. Breastfeeding provides the best source of nutrition for newborns and has the potential to prevent 13% of deaths of children under the age of 5. Breastfeeding also reduces the chances of catching and reduces the severity of infectious diseases that an infant may come across in these countries.

References

Breastfeeding Report Card 2014. (n.d.). Retrieved November 8, 2015, from http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/pdf/2014breastfeedingreportcard.pdf

Promoting and Protecting Breastfeeding. (n.d.). Retrieved November 8, 2015, from http://www.unicef.org/wcaro/4501_5055.html