Breast-Feeding Trends: A Cause for Action

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 88 (4) ◽  
pp. 867-868
Author(s):  
RUTH A. LAWRENCE
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Breast Feeding ◽  
The United States ◽  
Infant Formulas ◽  
Surgeon General ◽  
Human Lactation ◽  
Breast Feed ◽  
The Many ◽  
National Effort

Breast-feeding in the United States reached a peak in 1982 after suffering an abysmal decline in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s which followed the introduction of the many conveniences afforded by infant formulas. Much effort, energy, and enthusiasm has been poured into the encouragement of women to breast-feed their infants for at least the first 6 months. In 1984, C. Everett Koop, MD, Surgeon General of the United States, said, "We must identify and reduce the barriers that keep women from beginning or continuing to breast-feed their infants."1 A major national effort followed the Surgeon General's Workshop on Breast-feeding and Human Lactation in 1984.2

Recent Declines in Breast-Feeding in the United States, 1984 Through 1989

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 88 (4) ◽  
pp. 719-727 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan S. Ryan ◽  
David Rush ◽  
Fritz W. Krieger ◽  
Gregory E. Lewandowski
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Birth Weight ◽  
Breast Feeding ◽  
College Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sociodemographic Factors ◽  
Infants And Children ◽  
Supplemental Food ◽  
White Ethnicity ◽  
Breast Feed

Ongoing surveys performed by Ross Laboratories demonstrate recent declines both in the initiation of breast-feeding and continued breast-feeding at 6 months of age. Comparing rates in 1984 and 1989, the initiation of breast-feeding declined approximately 13% (from 59.7% to 52.2%), and there was a 24% decline in the rate of breast-feeding at 6 months of age (from 23.8% to 18.1%). The decline in breast-feeding was seen across all groups studied but was greater in some groups than in others. Logistic regression analysis indicates that white ethnicity, some college education, increased maternal age, and having an infant of normal birth weight were all positively associated with the likelihood of both initiating breast-feeding and continuing to breast-feed to at least 6 months of age. Women who were black and who were younger, no more than high school educated, enrolled in the Women, Infants and Children supplemental food program, working outside the home, not living in the western states, and who had an infant of low birth weight were less likely either to initiate breast-feeding or to be nursing when their children were 6 months of age. The factors influencing the decline in breast-feeding were not uniform. There were fewer sociodemograpahic factors associated with the decline in the initiation of breast-feeding than in the decline in prolonged breast-feeding. While the disparity between older and younger mothers in initiating breast-feeding increased, there was an offsetting trend as the disparity associated with parity decreased. The only other significantly changed relationship for initiation of breast-feeding was that the disparity associated with higher income increased significantly: the decline in the rates of breast-feeding among the less affluent was greater than among the more affluent. Many more sociodemographic factors were significantly associated with declines in breast-feeding at 6 months of age. The disparity between those mothers not employed and those employed increased (from an odds ratio of 1.65 in 1984 to 2.43 in 1989). The disparities associated with age and parity both increased over time: the rate of breast-feeding declined more steeply among younger and primiparous mothers than among older and multiparous mothers. Similarly, the declines were greater among those enrolled in the Women, Infants and Children program (compared with those not enrolled), those with less than a college education (compared with some college education), and those not residing in the western region of the United States (compared with those residing in the West). Educational efforts to promote breast-feeding are needed for all pregnant women and should be particularly directed toward the groups who have experienced the most rapid recent decline in the rates of breast-feeding.

Breast-Feeding Intentions and Practice Among Hispanic Mothers in Southern California

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 84 (4) ◽  
pp. 626-632
Author(s):  
Eunice Romero-Gwynn ◽  
Lucia Carias
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Breast Feeding ◽  
Odds Ratio ◽  
Southern California ◽  
The United States ◽  
Clinical Aspects ◽  
Feeding Practice ◽  
Hispanic Mothers ◽  
Breast Feed ◽  
At Home

Breast-feeding intentions, breast-feeding in the hospital, and breast-feeding at home were studied among 132 Hispanic mothers participating in the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program in southern California. There was not a large difference between total breast-feeding intention (77.7%) and total breast-feeding practice (63.8%). However, the 67.7% intention of exclusive breast-feeding drastically decreased to 19.7% and 17.2% in the hospital and at home, respectively. Formula supplementation increased by 4.5 times from intention to practice. Exclusive formula feeding increased from 10.0% to approximately 37.0% in the hospital and at home. Stepwise logistic regression identified that the likelihood of intending breast-feeding was greater for mothers who migrated from Mexico than for mothers born in the United States (odds ratio 4.75). The likelihood of breast-feeding practice was greater for mothers who initiated breast-feeding within the first 10 hours after birth as opposed to 11 or more hours (odds ratio 1.27), for mothers who had a vaginal rather than cesarean delivery (odds ratio 12.76), for mothers who did not return to work postpartum as opposed to working mothers (odds ratio 28.26), and for mothers who migrated from Mexico compared with mothers born in the United States (odds ratio 8.54). The importance of assessing and supporting mothers' breast-feeding intentions in the pre- and postpartum period is documented. Training in the clinical aspects of breast-feeding and improvement of hospital protocols is recommended. Mothers intending to breast- feed should be identified and supported.

Incidence of Breast-Feeding in a Low Socioeconomic Group of Mothers in the United States: Ethnic Patterns

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 132-137
Author(s):  
David K. Rassin ◽  
C. Joan Richardson ◽  
Tom Baranowski ◽  
Philip R. Nader ◽  
Nancy Guenther ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Breast Feeding ◽  
Mexican Americans ◽  
Maternal Education ◽  
The United States ◽  
Low Socioeconomic ◽  
Head Of Household ◽  
Lower Socioeconomic ◽  
Breast Feed ◽  
Study Population

Breast-feeding has been shown to have increased in incidence during recent years in the United States. However, this increase is not particularly evident in lower socioeconomic groups. Factors associated with the decision to breast-feed or not were investigated in a population of 379 mothers. Self-completed questionnaires were obtained from 94.5% of these mothers. Data with respect to demographics, reproductive history, prenatal care, and education were collected. Only 27.2% of the study population indicated that they intended to breastfeed. Using the x2 test for equality of proportions, marital status, head of household, maternal and paternal ethnicity, maternal education, income, and number of pregnancy were found to be the most important variables associated with breast-feeding. The effect of ethnicity predominated over that of the other demographic variables when they were examined jointly within ethnic groups. The effect of ethnicity was apparent when the number of each ethnic group in the study population was compared with the percent of that group that intended to breast-feed: 145 Anglo-Americans, 43.5% breast-feeding; 131 black Americans, 9.2%; 62 Mexican Americans, 22.6%; 19 others, 42.1%. The importance of ethnicity in the decision to breast-feed has probably been underestimated. Efforts to increase breast-feeding in the United States ought to be designed with full consideration of this factor.

INTRODUCTION

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 589-590
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Infant Feeding ◽  
Breast Feeding ◽  
Infant Health ◽  
Feeding Practices ◽  
The United States ◽  
Protective Effects ◽  
Infant Feeding Practices ◽  
Breast Feed

This report focuses on the recent scientific literature concerning infant feeding worldwide. The first four papers examine infant-feeding practices in the United States; the last five papers focus on such practices in developing countries. DOMESTIC REPORT The domestic section of the report examines the available literature from industrialized countries that may be relevant to the United States' situation. In brief, the findings of the domestic report are that the evidence is generally inconclusive that breast-feeding has a large, positive effect on infant health in the United States. Modest protective effects may exist with regard to gastroenteritis. The evidence is somewhat stronger among American Indian and Alaskan native populations in which risk of infant morbidity and mortality is high. Little information exists on the effects in disadvantaged urban groups. The available evidence concerning trends in infant-feeding practices indicates that the rate and duration of breast-feeding are increasing, especially among the more affluent groups. The evidence is less clear among the disadvantaged. In general, lower socioeconomic groups are less likely to breast-feed. INTERNATIONAL REPORT The international section of the report examines some of the central issues regarding methods of infant feeding in the developing world and discusses the implications of the findings. In developing countries, where infant mortality is much higher than in the United States, the potential for breast-feeding to be an important determinant of infant survival is much greater. Sanitation is likely to be poorer; traditional foods offered in lieu of breast milk are likely to be nutritionally deficient; and commercial formula—if available and used—is more likely to be inappropriately diluted and stored.

Applying the Devil's Works in a Holy Cause: Working-Class Popular Culture and the Salvation Army in the United States, 1879-1900

1997 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-223
Author(s):  
Lillian Taiz
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
New York City ◽  
Popular Culture ◽  
York City ◽  
The United States ◽  
Salvation Army ◽  
Public Meeting ◽  
The Many ◽  
Sunday Evening

Forty-eight hours after they landed in New York City in 1880, a small contingent of the Salvation Army held their first public meeting at the infamous Harry Hill's Variety Theater. The enterprising Hill, alerted to the group's arrival from Britain by newspaper reports, contacted their leader, Commissioner George Scott Railton, and offered to pay the group to “do a turn” for “an hour or two on … Sunday evening.” In nineteenth-century New York City, Harry Hill's was one of the best known concert saloons, and reformers considered him “among the disreputable classes” of that city. His saloon, they said, was “nothing more than one of the many gates to hell.”

scholarly journals Challenges in Bridge Health Monitoring: A Review

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (13) ◽  
pp. 4336
Author(s):  
Piervincenzo Rizzo ◽  
Alireza Enshaeian
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Health Monitoring ◽  
Highway Bridges ◽  
The United States ◽  
Anomalous Behavior ◽  
Existing Structures ◽  
Bridge Health Monitoring ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Many ◽  
Major Factors

Bridge health monitoring is increasingly relevant for the maintenance of existing structures or new structures with innovative concepts that require validation of design predictions. In the United States there are more than 600,000 highway bridges. Nearly half of them (46.4%) are rated as fair while about 1 out of 13 (7.6%) is rated in poor condition. As such, the United States is one of those countries in which bridge health monitoring systems are installed in order to complement conventional periodic nondestructive inspections. This paper reviews the challenges associated with bridge health monitoring related to the detection of specific bridge characteristics that may be indicators of anomalous behavior. The methods used to detect loss of stiffness, time-dependent and temperature-dependent deformations, fatigue, corrosion, and scour are discussed. Owing to the extent of the existing scientific literature, this review focuses on systems installed in U.S. bridges over the last 20 years. These are all major factors that contribute to long-term degradation of bridges. Issues related to wireless sensor drifts are discussed as well. The scope of the paper is to help newcomers, practitioners, and researchers at navigating the many methodologies that have been proposed and developed in order to identify damage using data collected from sensors installed in real structures.

John Leighton Stuart and U.S.-Chinese Communist Rapprochement in 1949: Was There Another “Lost Chance in China”?

1982 ◽  
Vol 89 ◽  
pp. 74-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-ming Shaw
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cold War ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mao Zedong ◽  
Working Relationship ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
The Many ◽  
The One ◽  
June July ◽  
The Cold War

Reverend John Leighton Stuart (1876–1962) served as U.S. ambassador to China from July 1946 until August 1949. In the many discussions of his ambassadorship the one diplomatic mission that has aroused the most speculation and debate was his abortive trip to Beijing, contemplated in June–July 1949, to meet with Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. Some students of Sino-American relations have claimed that had this trip been made the misunderstanding and subsequent hostility between the United States and the People's Republic of China in the post-1949 period could have been avoided; therefore, the unmaking of this trip constituted another “lost chance in China” in establishing a working relationship between the two countries. But others have thought that given the realities of the Cold War in 1949 and the internal political constraints existing in each country, no substantial result could have been gained from such a trip. Therefore, the thesis of a “lost chance in China” was more an unfounded speculation than a credible affirmation.

Trends in Breast-Feeding

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 591-602
Author(s):  
Gerry E. Hendershot
Keyword(s):  
Infant Feeding ◽  
Breast Feeding ◽  
Market Research ◽  
The United States ◽  
Upward Trend ◽  
Disadvantaged Women ◽  
Breast Feed ◽  
Statistical Studies ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Short Section

Starting from very high levels in the 1940s, breast-feeding declined steadily to low levels in the early 1970s, and then began an upward trend which has apparently continued until the present (Fig. 1). In the 1940s, breast-feeding was more common among disadvantaged women. The subsequent decline was also more rapid among the disadvantaged, however, so that by the early 1970s, disadvantaged women were considerably less likely than others to breast-feed. Because the increase since the early 1970s has not been so pronounced among the disadvantaged, they continue to have relatively low levels of breast-feeding. The causes of these trends and differentials are not well understood. These are the principal conclusions drawn from a review of statistical studies of trends and differentials in breast-feeding in the United States. The studies included national health surveys conducted by the federal government, market research surveys conducted by infant formula manufacturers, and infant feeding surveys conducted by medical researchers. The studies differed markedly in their methods—a fact that affects their validity, reliability, and comparability. The first section of this paper discusses these data sources and their limitations. The next two sections discuss the downward trend in breast-feeding from the 1940s to the early 1970s, and the upward trend since. Each of these sections examines demographic differences in these trends. A short section that addresses possible causes of the trends and differentials follows those two sections. SOURCES AND LIMITATIONS OF THE DATA The principal sources of data on trends and differentials in breast-feeding are national fertility surveys, market research surveys, and special purpose infant-feeding surveys.

The U.S. Health Delivery System: Inefficient and Unfair to Children

1997 ◽  
Vol 23 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 319-337
Author(s):  
Loretta M. Kopelman ◽  
Michael G. Palumbo
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Universal Access ◽  
The United States ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Health Care Resources ◽  
Health Delivery ◽  
Hip Replacements ◽  
The Many ◽  
Older Citizens

What proportion of health care resources should go to programs likely to benefit older citizens, such as treatments for Alzheimer’s disease and hip replacements, and what share should be given to programs likely to benefit the young, such as prenatal and neonatal care? What portion should go to rare but severe diseases that plague the few, or to common, easily correctable illnesses that afflict the many? What percentage of funds should go to research, rehabilitation or to intensive care? Many nations have made such hard choices about how to use their limited funds for health care by explicitly setting priorities based on their social commitments. In the United States, however, allocation of health care resources has largely been left to personal choice and market forces. Although the United States spends around 14% of its gross national product (GNP) on health care, the United States and South Africa are the only two industrialized countries that fail to provide citizens with universal access.

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