US Breastfeeding Map Shows We Have a Long Way to Go
It seems you'd be hard pressed to find anyone in the United States who hadn't heard that "breast is best." (Except, apparently, residents of Mississippi.) But when mapping out breastfeeding rates at 12 months of age, none of the 50 states are doing that well.
Before I (rightfully) blame a lack of national paid maternity leave and all the other family-unfriendly policies in our country, let's take a look at the map to see which states are giving breastfeeding past a year the old college try.
CBS News gathered the statistics used here from the CDC, so you can see how many women are still nursing as their little ones hit the 1-year mark. You may be surprised where your state lands on the grid.
Vermont comes in at number one with a 39.7 percent rate of breastfeeding moms at 12 months. That's not too shabby, even though it's not even half of the babies in the land of Ben and Jerry's getting mom's milk. Besides Vermont, the states with the highest percentages of breastfeeding at 12 months were: Oregon (39.6 percent), Utah (35.4 percent), Montana (34.8 percent), and Washington (33.4 percent).
The lowest breastfeeding rates came from West Virginia (12.5 percent), Oklahoma (12.2 percent), South Carolina (12 percent), Louisiana (9.8 percent), and Mississippi (8 percent).
The map is broken down like this by percentage of breastfeeders at 12 months:
- Red: 33.40 - 39.70 percent.
- Orange: 26.60 - 33.40 percent
- Yellow: 10.80 - 26.60 percent
- Light green: 13.10 - 20.80 percent
- Bright green: 8 - 13.10 percent
Of course Oregon coming in at the number two spot isn't surprising. Don't they do everything better in Portland? But the Southern states really need to work on it, as most of the bottom 10 are located south of the Mason-Dixon line.
But the biggest thing this map of the U.S. shows is that every state needs to do a much better job at supporting breastfeeding moms past those early months. I wonder how these rates would look if we actually had paid maternity leave in this country? Or even non-paid, for more than a few measly months? So is it surprising that those states that are also known for high levels of poverty also have low breastfeeding rates? Those ladies have to get back to work!
Something's gotta give, or we can look forward to more studies showing that less than half of all American moms breastfeed at 12 months.
How did your state do?
Go Washington! lol.
I'm still nursing my 2 and half year old daughter. God blessed me greatly with being able to breastfeed all four of my children.
Super cool! Do you do child led weaning? We do! :)
Quoting jollymommy:Go Washington! lol.
I'm still nursing my 2 and half year old daughter. God blessed me greatly with being able to breastfeed all four of my children.
LOL! Same here!
Quoting lovinangels:Well, in my house, it's 100 percent. That's all I can do.
yup. The first two weaned 'cuz I got pregnant with the next one. The third one weaned because we had to supplement with formula when he was 8 months old. He weaned himself at 9 months, the big monkey.
Our fourth is our last. She's the first toddler I ever nursed! It's SO SPECIAL! Before her, my previous record was 19 months, then 15 months, then that monkey at 9 months.
He we are at 32 months old and she's still going strong! I LOVE IT! And it's been such a blessing when she's sick and doesn't want to eat or drink anything, because she'll still nurse.
Quoting Kris_PBG:Super cool! Do you do child led weaning? We do! :)
Quoting jollymommy:Go Washington! lol.
I'm still nursing my 2 and half year old daughter. God blessed me greatly with being able to breastfeed all four of my children.
Life is hard, and God is good.
How cool.
Ds1 nursed until he was 2 years, 9 months. I was pg at the time, but I don't think that had much to do with it, as he pretty ready to be done.
Now ds2 is a different kiddo all together - he is still nursing at 3 1/2! LOL! He doesn't nurse often these days and he slowly winding down.
Quoting jollymommy:yup. The first two weaned 'cuz I got pregnant with the next one. The third one weaned because we had to supplement with formula when he was 8 months old. He weaned himself at 9 months, the big monkey.
Our fourth is our last. She's the first toddler I ever nursed! It's SO SPECIAL! Before her, my previous record was 19 months, then 15 months, then that monkey at 9 months.
He we are at 32 months old and she's still going strong! I LOVE IT! And it's been such a blessing when she's sick and doesn't want to eat or drink anything, because she'll still nurse.
Quoting Kris_PBG:Super cool! Do you do child led weaning? We do! :)
Quoting jollymommy:Go Washington! lol.
I'm still nursing my 2 and half year old daughter. God blessed me greatly with being able to breastfeed all four of my children.
Just THROW it AWAY!!!
- jridgill
on Jun. 29, 2011 at 10:27 AM