Essay --

All mammalian m separates feed their children mamilla milk directly from breast to mouth this act is known as breastfeeding. The World Health Organization and UNICEF recommends early initiation of breastfeeding, within an hour of birth, and exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of living (Global strategy for infant and young child feeding, WHO 2013). Exclusive breastfeeding is defined as the infant receiving only breast milk without the addition of solid foods or other liquids. The benefits of exclusive breastfeeding ar numerous, with the most highly recognized being protection against gastrointestinal infections, which fetch been shown to be a cause of mortality in infants. concord to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) 2013 Breastfeeding Report Card, approximately 77% of American children are breastfed at all, 40% are exclusively breastfed at trine months old, and 16% by six months. Approximately 50% of mothers continue to breastfeed their childre n past six months, although the childs sustenance is supplemented with solid foods and other liquids. insufficiency of breastfeeding has been linked to malnourishment, which is associated with 45% of child deaths globally (WHO 2013). In 2012, close to 100 million children under the age of five were below the healthy weight-to-height ratio as a consequence of malnutrition due to inadequate feeding and multiple infections. Research has shown that the act of breastfeeding not only provides benefits for the child, but also mothers. According to the federal government agency on womens health, breastfeeding has been associated with reduced risk of breast and ovarian cancers, and other womens health problems. Encouraging women to breastfeed exclusively for the first six months of thei... ...initiatives have increased breastfeeding rates from 31% to 51% in a small rural community in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada (Martens, 2000).Increasing educational initiatives to encourage breastfeeding ca n be further fortified by encouraging the involvement of family and close friends in the decision-making process. The support of family members such as spouses, siblings, and the infants grandparents is essential in fate the mother as she decides how the baby will be fed and providing the necessary support once the baby is born. Family members can also serve as mentors to mothers who are considering their infants feeding options. The babys grandmother, for example, can be a key influence by sharing her breastfeeding experience with her pregnant daughter or daughter-in-law. A mothers perspective on breastfeeding is greatly influenced by the community around her.