A pleasant change has been witnessed in hospitals as now more hospitals have been providing better support to women who want to breastfeed. A recently published data has said that the change has come since 2007.

“Breastfeeding has immense health benefits for babies and their mothers. More hospitals are better supporting new moms to breastfeed — every newborn should have the best possible start to life”, said Tom Frieden, CDC Director.

With an aim to evaluate trends in hospitals for the use of the CDC’s Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding practices and policies, researchers from the CDC have assessed data from the Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care Survey.

The Ten Steps program has been designed to improve breastfeeding results. Under the program, it is measure how well a hospital provides support for breastfeeding in three stages, before, during and after mother’s stay.

In 2007, only 28.7% of hospitals used Ten Steps, but in 2013, it was found that 53.9% of hospitals were using it. In 2007 and 2013, more than 90% of hospitals have provided women with breastfeeding education before they delivered their babies.

Cria Perrine, an epidemiologist in CDC’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, was of the view that breastfeeding programs in hospitals prove beneficial in finding out whether a mother can start and continue breastfeeding. The improvements in hospital support for breastfeeding is not only great, but also promising thing.

“Breastfeeding has immense health benefits for babies and their mothers. More hospitals are better supporting new moms to breastfeed — every newborn should have the best possible start to life,” Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, CDC Director, said in a press release.