US national surveillance of breastfeeding behavior

The Healthy People 2010 objective to increase US national breastfeeding rates uses data from the Ross Laboratories Mothers Survey for monitoring. Because of scientific and political problems related to the use of these data, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently held a meeting on surveillance systems for monitoring breastfeeding behaviors in the United States. Participants identified and discussed 12 surveillance systems that collect or could collect breastfeeding data. None of the existing systems met the participants' definition of an ideal system, although each was seen as providing additional insight into breastfeeding behaviors. Key recommendations are to (1) justify the need for additional resources to build a comprehensive national system; (2) add questions on breastfeeding incidence, duration, and exclusivity to the National Immunization Survey; (3) ensure that breastfeeding questions on national surveys are consistent; and (4) encourage state use of the breastfeeding module of the CDC's Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System.