Which States Have Breastfeeding Laws on the Books?
Eighteen states mandate that hospitals implement baby-friendly practices. Is your state one of them?
Not one country in the entire world got a passing grade from the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund when it comes to supporting breastfeeding moms, according to a new report released Tuesday.
That study, the Global Breastfeeding Scorecard, found that fewer than 44 percent of moms report breastfeeding within the first hour of birth. And, only 23 countries worldwide demonstrated exclusive breastfeeding rates at 6-months of age that were above 60 percent—Eritrea, Zambia, and Bolivia made the list. The United States on the other hand? Not so much.
According to Laurence Grummer-Strawn, a technical officer with the World Health Organization, part of the problem is that breastfeeding initiatives have traditionally been too narrowly focused.
“Many people understand the importance of breastfeeding, but too often they assume that responsibility can be placed entirely on the mother," Grummer-Strawn told USA Today. "They don’t give consideration to the political, social and environmental factors that actually shape breastfeeding.”
When it comes to encouraging breastfeeding, it turns out that state governments may actually have a role to play.
Baby-Friendly USA the non-profit organization tasked with implementing the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative—a global initiative of WHO and UNICEF—highlights 10 evidence-based practices that hospitals can undertake to support breastfeeding. These “baby-friendly practices” include providing staff with specialized training, informing all pregnant women about the benefits of breastfeeding, and allowing mothers and infants to stay in the same hospital room—often called “rooming in.”
But, which states have laws on the books that require hospitals to implement these practices?
That question is the subject of a new project by Temple University’s Policy Surveillance Program in partnership with the group ChangeLab Solutions. An interactive mapping tool as part of this project identifies the states that regulate hospital breastfeeding practices and the extent to which these laws differ over jurisdictional boundaries.
All told, 18 states address baby-friendly hospital practices through legislation.
But, only nine states require hospitals to inform patients about the benefits of breastfeeding. Only six states require that healthcare staff be trained in the skills necessary to implement baby-friendly practices.
Five states mandate that hospitals permit rooming in for mothers and infants, and only New York and New Jersey go so far as to require, by law, that hospitals help mothers initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth.
The long term goal of the mapping project is to enable research on whether or not these laws have an impact on breastfeeding rates and health outcomes.
Explore the data and interactive map for yourself.
Quinn Libson is a Staff Correspondent for Government Executive’s Route Fifty.
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