Infant feeding practices in a Russian and a United States city: patterns and comparisons

The purpose of this research was to compare infant feeding practices in two rural cities, one located in the midwest of the USA and the other northeast of Moscow in Russia. During the month of October 1991, questionnaires were distributed to new mothers in Stevens Point, Wisconsin and in Rostov-Veliky, Russia. All new mothers were breastfeeding their infants in Russia at the time of hospital discharge. In the Wisconsin city, 60 percent of new mothers were breastfeeding. Russian mothers received more societal support for breastfeeding, with longer maternity leave and childcare facilities provided in the workplace.