Black Mothers Less Likely to Breast-feed Than White Mothers

Maternity care practices differ in neighborhoods with more black residents than average, CDC research finds

Black mothers are less likely than white moms to breast-feed their babies, and here’s one possible reason why: Hospitals in neighborhoods with many black residents do less to promote nursing than those in areas with more white residents, a U.S. government study finds.

Key practices that support breast-feeding are much less common in medical centers where the black population is higher than average, researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday.

These practices include efforts to initiate early breast-feeding, limited use of formula and “rooming-in” (keeping the mother and baby in the same room).

“Breast-feeding has many health benefits for mothers and babies. Hospital practices during childbirth have a major impact on whether a mother is able to start and continue breast-feeding,” the study authors noted.

“These findings suggest there are racial disparities in access to maternity care practices known to support breast-feeding,” Jennifer Lind and her CDC colleagues wrote in the Aug. 22 issue of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Nationally, breast-feeding rates among black infants are about 16 percent lower than for white infants, the agency said. For this study, the researchers linked data from a 2011 U.S. survey on maternity practices in infant care and nutrition to U.S. Census data on the percentage of blacks living within the zip code area of a given health-care facility.

Looking at more than 2,600 maternity centers overall, the investigators found a wide variation in implementation of 10 policies that support breast-feeding. Those practices included having a written policy supporting breast-feeding, prenatal breast-feeding education and limited use of pacifiers after childbirth.

Where the percentage of black residents was more than 12.2 percent (the national average from 2007 to 2011), the hospitals were less likely than centers elsewhere to meet five important indicators, the study found.

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SOURCE: WebMD News from HealthDay
Margaret Farley Steele