Posted Aug 20, 2010
In breastfeeding, New Hampshire is ahead of the curve.
Numbers released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that the Granite State is one of 10 states to meet all five Healthy People goals related to breastfeeding in 2009. The information comes just in time for World Breastfeeding Week — Aug. 1-7.
Studies show that breastfeeding provides optimal nutrition, protection against chronic childhood diseases and obesity and the promotion of maternal and infant bonding, according to a news release Monday from the N.H. Department of Health and Human Services.
New Hampshire is one of 25 states funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to decrease obesity by encouraging more women to breastfeed, breastfeed longer and breastfeed exclusively, according to the release.
“Protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding with its many known benefits is a key strategy toward improving the health of mothers, babies and children,” Dr. Jose Montero, the state’s director of public health, said Monday.
New Hampshire, like most states, has legislation in place supporting the right to breastfeed in public. However, it is not one of the 15 states that mandate employer support for breastfeeding mothers who return to work, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Workplaces that provide women with a private place to express milk better support exclusive breastfeeding and contribute to longer duration of breastfeeding, both of which improve health outcomes for moms and babies,” Montero said in the release.
The New Hampshire Women, Infants and Children Nutrition Program with the Department of Health and Human Services provides mothers with breastfeeding education and support during the prenatal period.
The program also supplies manual and electric breast pumps and an enhanced food package for exclusively breastfeeding mothers.
On the Net
www.dhhs.state.nh.us/dhhs/wic/breastfeeding.htm.
—–
To see more of The Keene Sentinel, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sentinelsource.com/.
Copyright © 2010, The Keene Sentinel, N.H.