Baby-friendly hospitals up breastfeeding

LOS ANGELES, May 15 (UPI) -- Being born in a baby-friendly hospital increases the chance the infant will be breastfed for six months, found a study of inner-city U.S. hospitals.

The research for the International Lactation Consultant Association, published in the Journal of Human Lactation, found that the rates of breastfeeding at six months decreased for families with public insurance or if there was an early feeding problem.

The study found that those mothers who gave birth in a baby-friendly hospital breastfed at rates comparable to the overall U.S. population, suggesting that the baby-friendly initiatives were positively affecting the health of those babies.

They looked at the factors influencing a mother's decision to begin to breastfeed while in the hospital and what influenced whether that baby was still being nursed at six months.

The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative was established by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund to help the participating hospitals become centers of breastfeeding support.