Health educators are perpetually frustrated by the low rate of breastfeeding among American women. But a pair of sociologists has pinpointed a segment of the population that is clearly open to the concept but apparently could use some help in sustaining this health-promoting behavior: low-income churchgoers. A new analysis of nearly 5,000 American infants and their mothers—most of whom were unwed women living in urban areas—revealed a striking pattern. Sixty-six percent of the women who attended church once a week or more breastfed their newborns, compared to 48 percent of those who ... Read More
Despite Bloomberg’s Best Efforts, Disincentives Remain for Breastfeeding
August 6, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment
Last week, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced an initiative to encourage mothers to breastfeed their babies. Nurses in city hospitals will give new parents mandatory talks on the benefits of breast milk, and departing mothers will no longer be provided with free samples of formula. Some commentators, including New York Times Motherlode blogger K.J. Dell’Antonia, questioned whether this “nudge” could cross over into coercion. But even if a thick-necked guy from Brooklyn strongly suggests you forget about the formula, society provides numerous incentives to bottle feed once you ... Read More
Breastfed Children Less Likely to Become Obese
June 5, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment
The Walt Disney Company’s announcement that its child-oriented television channels and websites will reject ads for unhealthy foods has been widely welcomed. But a new study from Ireland suggests there’s something mothers can do long before their kids reach cartoon-watching age to decrease the kids' odds of becoming obese. Breastfeed them. And do so for at least six months. This recommendation isn’t radically new: A 2004 review of nine studies concluded that breastfeeding “reduced the risk of obesity in childhood significantly.” But the Irish study, recently published in the ... Read More
Lactation Breeds Lack: The High Cost of Breastfeeding
March 22, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment
The percentage of American mothers who breastfeed their babies has risen over the past decade, but it remains far below the rate public health officials would like to see. Newly published research provides one possible reason why. It turns out all that healthy, nutritious milk comes at a surprisingly high cost. A study of 1,313 American women who gave birth between 1980 and 1993 finds those who breastfed for six months or more suffered “more severe and more prolonged earnings losses” than mothers who breastfed for a shorter amount of time, or not at all. “Our results suggest ... Read More
Don’t Mess With Breastfeeding Women
August 30, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Earlier this year, we reported that breast-feeding women are widely viewed as less competent. Newly published research suggests it would be unwise to share that unflattering opinion with them. According to a team led by UCLA health psychologist Jennifer Hahn-Holbrook, lactating women display higher levels of aggression than both non-mothers and their bottle-feeding counterparts. What’s more, their blood pressure stays low even as their combativeness increases, which may be nature’s way of allowing new mothers to calmly but effectively deal with potential threats. Writing in the ... Read More
Breastfeeding Women Viewed as Less Competent
March 22, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
A study emerged out of Oxford University last week suggesting babies who are breastfed end up doing better in school. Yet despite such well-documented benefits for both mother and child, the percentage of American breastfeeding women remains "stagnant and low," according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Why are only one-third of American mothers exclusively breastfeeding at three months, and only 43 percent breastfeeding at all at six months? Perhaps because they’ve gotten a sense of how harshly they are being judged. Research just published in the journal ... Read More
10 Things You Didn’t Know Were in the Health Bill
March 29, 2010 • By • 16 Comments
The 2,000-page health care bill that became law last week is packed with major reforms probably well known (in concept if not in detail) by anyone who has channel-surfed through the nightly news over the past year. There's an individual mandate, a system of exchanges, new government subsidies and a ban on some of the worst practices of the insurance industry. Let's say the small print on the big stuff accounts for about 1,500 pages, give or take a ream. What's in the rest? Some random, weird and interesting solutions to problems you may or may not have known you had, some with dubious ... Read More
