Breastfeeding-related maternity practices at hospitals and birth centers--United States, 2007.

Breastfeeding provides optimal nutrition for infants and is associated with decreased risk for infant and maternal morbidity and mortality; however, only four states (Alaska, Montana, Oregon, and Washington) have met all five Healthy People 2010 targets for breastfeeding. Maternity practices in hospitals and birth centers throughout the intrapartum period, such as ensuring mother-newborn skin-to-skin contact, keeping mother and newborn together, and not giving supplemental feedings to breastfed newborns unless medically indicated, can influence breastfeeding behaviors during a period critical to successful establishment of lactation. In 2007, to characterize maternity practices related to breastfeeding, CDC conducted the first national Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care (mPINC) Survey. This report summarizes results of that survey, which indicated that 1) a substantial proportion of facilities used maternity practices that are not evidence-based and are known to interfere with breastfeeding and 2) states in the southern United States generally had lower mPINC scores, including certain states previously determined to have the lowest 6-month breastfeeding rates. These results highlight the need for U.S. hospitals and birth centers to implement changes in maternity practices that support breastfeeding.