I hope this research gets legs. It was clear 40 years ago that breast milk was vital and improved long term health for breast fed infants. La Leche League educated, mentored and championed breast milk feeding.
In 1980, the breastfeeding initiation rate in the United States was approximately 54%. For infants born in 2020 in the USA, 25.4% were exclusively breastfed through 6 months of age, up from 17.2% for those born in 2010.
This is an incredibly sad statistic. Mothers are choosing convenience over the best interests of their babies. Not only by optimizing nutrition, immunological benefits, emotional development, gut health but also in avoiding contaminated or poisoned formula. The recent world-wide recall of infant formula from major producers such as Nestle because of contaminated ingredients from Wuhan is the latest example.
The preoccupation with self absorption and self actualization has devastating repercussions for those that were once (& IMO should be) nurtured in preference to self.
Hi Jay, send the link to anyone in your list who might be interested.
Could the decrease be connected to how many nursing mothers are in medications such as antidepressants that would make it unsafe for their infants to nurse? What about the GLP-1 class of medications or all the other ones advertised which make it clear they function at least in part by seriously compromising the immune system?