Trends in Breastfeeding Among Infants Enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children — New York, 2002–2015

Weekly / June 16, 2017 / 66(23);610–614

Furrina Lee, PhD1; Lynn S. Edmunds, DrPH1; Xiao Cong, MPH2; Jackson P. Sekhobo, PhD1 (View author affiliations)

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Summary

What is already known about this topic?

Breastfeeding is widely accepted as the optimal method of infant feeding. Collective efforts at national, state, and local levels have been made to promote breastfeeding initiation, duration and exclusivity among low-income families.

What is added by this report?

Breastfeeding initiation among New York infants enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) exceeded the 81.9% Healthy People 2020(HP2020) objective in 2014. The racial/ethnic disparity in initiation declined from 26.5 percentage points in 2002 to 9.2 in 2015. Although significant progress has been made regarding breastfeeding duration and exclusivity (e.g., 39.5% breastfeeding for ≥6 months and 14.3% exclusively breastfeeding for ≥3 months in 2015, respectively), the New York WIC program is not on target to meet the HP2020 objectives of 60.6% (≥6 months duration) and 46.2% (≥3 months exclusively), respectively. Improvements in breastfeeding measures vary by race/ethnicity.

What are the implications for public health practice?

Current interventions are effective in promoting breastfeeding initiation and helpful in improving duration of breastfeeding among some racial/ethnic groups of New York WIC participants. In addition to known best practices, future breastfeeding promotion strategies should explore these limitations and focus on implementation with high fidelity.