(Reuters Health) – Even as more U.S. mothers are breastfeeding their babies, a new study suggests the gap in breastfeeding between black and white infants is widening. But disparities between exclusive breastfeeding at six months of age became more pronounced between black and white babies, the study also found. At the start of the study, the proportion of black infants being exclusively breast fed was just 0.5 percentage points behind white babies, but by the end this gap widened to 4.5 percentage points. For mothers, breastfeeding for at least one year has been linked to a lower risk of depression, obesity, and certain cancers. By 2015, exclusive breastfeeding rates ranged from as low as 17.2% for black babies to as high as 29.5% for white infants and 30.1% for Asian babies,That year, the proportion of mothers still breastfeeding at 12 months ranged from as low as 24% for black babies to as high as 50.3% for Asian infants and 39.8% for white babies.

Source: National Post October 14, 2019 20:37 UTC