Let’s start with some information about Breastfeeding Rates among Infants Born in 2015/ Percentage of Live Births Occurring at Baby Friendly Facilities, 2018 in a lovely little table:
| IN | IL | KY | US Average | |
| Ever Breastfed | 78.8% | 80.3% | 73.9% | 83.2% |
| Breastfeeding @ 6 months | 53.5% | 53% | 48.6% | 57.6% |
| Breastfeeding @ 12 months | 33% | 33.8% | 28.2% | 35.9% |
| Exclusive through 3 months | 47.5% | 39.6% | 39.8% | 46.9% |
| Exclusive through 6 months | 31.7% | 19.5% | 21.1% | 24.9% |
| Received formula before 2 days old | 11.8% | 20.7% | 19.8% | 17.2% |
| Baby Friendly Hospital Births | 31% | 22.3% | 24.5% | 26.1% |
US Averages above do not include Puerto Rico or Guam. You can find all of this information here if you would like.
These are our Indiana 2020 breastfeeding goals we are trying to reach:
-Exclusive breastfeeding through 3 months: 46.2%
-Exclusive through 6 months: 25.5%
-Breastfeeding at 6 months: 60.6%
-Special emphasis on increasing breastfeeding rates among infants of African-American descent, infants of mothers under 20 years of age, infants of low-income mothers, & infants of mothers who get little or no prenatal care.
-You can find all of these Indiana public health goals here if you want to read more.
- Here in Indiana, we have some room for improvement on these goals:
- Initiation of breastfeeding
- Breastfeeding at 6 months
- Breastfeeding at 12 months
- Exclusive breastfeeding at 3 months
- Exclusive breastfeeding at 6 months
- % of breastfed infants receiving supplementation before 2 days of age
- Number of Certified Lactation Consultants per 1,000 live births
If you want to read the numbers for these, they can be found on page 5 at: https://www.in.gov/isdh/files/Indiana_State_Breastfeeding_Plan_Final_2016.pdf
I couldn’t find hospital specific rates, but that’s ok. Both local hospitals in Evansville are Baby Friendly, and we know that has been demonstrated to be a great thing when it comes to breastfeeding rates!
Breastfeeding can be complicated, and every breastfeeding journey can be different. I know mine were with each of my two babies. There are all kinds of barriers to breastfeeding that are personal, structural, and cultural. Usually the three biggest barriers to breastfeeding that I see are
1. Lack of education about breastfeeding,
2. Lack of support for breastfeeding at multiple levels,
3. Lack of time to establish excellent breastfeeding practices.
These are certainly not the only issues, but they are definitely big ones from my perspective.
For breastfeeding parents, there are resources to help you!
A lot of people like to start their research online. Kelly Mom and La Leche League are always my go-to sites for good evidence-based information about breastfeeding.
If you prefer in person support, both Evansville hospitals have excellent lactation departments (one even does remote help via video calls), all tri-state area WIC offices have peer lactation counselors, the Pre to 3 Program s available for qualified families (https://www.preto3program.com/) through the Health Department, and we have an excellent local La Leche League group that has regular meetings and a support hotline. My friend Holly Phillips is also a new independent International Board Certified Lactation Consultant based out of Owensboro and is planning to make some visits to homes in Evansville too with her new business Beacon Breastfeeding Support!
If you are passionate about teaching other people about lactation, being a peer support person, or even expanding your professional knowledge and skills to better support breastfeeding families no matter what your job is, you should think about coming to the upcoming Certified Lactation Educator training here in Evansville with the brilliant Bonnie Logsdon from The Baby’s Voice (https://www.thebabysvoice.com/)! I will be writing more about Bonnie & the class in a later blog post, but you can find more information here if you are interested.
You should also think about joining us at the Southwest Indiana Breastfeeding Coalition if you are able! You can find us on Facebook and join us for our upcoming meeting on Tuesday 3/19 at the Vanderburgh Health Department from 11:30am-1pm. It is one of my favorite meetings to attend, and certainly filled with people who all support breastfeeding in this area.
The bottom line is this: people who want to breastfeed should be supported in every way possible. There are resources to help families succeed in their breastfeeding goals no matter what they are, and I want everyone to know about them. Breastfeeding is a skill for parents and babies to learn, and everyone deserves the education, support, and time to make their breastfeeding goals a reality.