More than 80 percent of U.S. mothers breastfeed their newborns, but fewer than a third keep doing so for the recommended minimum of one year, a new survey finds.
Many studies support breastfeeding for as long as possible, and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies get nothing but human breast milk until the age of six months — and that they continue to breastfeed for at least a year, NBC News reported.
"Breastfeeding decreases the possibility that your baby will get a variety of infectious diseases, ear infections, diarrhea, etc.," the Academy says in its guidance.
The survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 81 percent of U.S. babies born in 2013 were breastfed from birth. But then it drops off. "Less than a third (30.7 percent) of infants were breastfeeding at 12 months," the CDC said.
