THURSDAY, Nov. 16, 2023 (HealthDay News) — From 1999 to 2018, there was an increase in the prevalence of breastfeeding initiation and breastfeeding duration at 12 months, according to a research letter published online Nov. 13 in JAMA Pediatrics.

Guodong Ding, Ph.D., M.D., from the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, and colleagues used data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data (1999 to 2018) to evaluate trends in prevalence of breastfeeding initiation and breastfeeding duration at 3, 6, and 12 months of age among 7,629 participants.

The researchers found that the weighted prevalence of breastfeeding initiation increased overall from 67.9 percent in 1999 to 2000 to 87.6 percent in 2017 to 2018. Similar trends were seen when stratified by race and ethnicity, poverty index ratio, sex, and maternal age at delivery. There was an increase observed in the overall prevalence of breastfeeding duration at 12 months, from 13.1 percent in 1999 to 2000 to 21.7 percent in 2017 to 2018. Stronger trends at 12 months were seen for male infants, older mothers, Mexican American and multiracial participants, and households with higher income.

“Breastfeeding education, professional recommendations, in-person support, and home visits remain important measures for promoting breastfeeding practices,” the authors write. 

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