Continuing a decade-long increase, three-fourths of infants born in the U.S. in 2007 were breastfed at least temporarily, according to annual data released Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA Today reports.

However, the rate of infants still being breastfed at six months and 12 months has stagnated. The data show that the nation met the government's Healthy People 2010 goal for the overall percentage of infants being breastfed but missed the marks of having 50% of six-month-olds and 25% of 12-month-olds being breastfed.

Cynthia Kittle, director of the West Virginia Breastfeeding Alliance, said one major challenge in increasing breastfeeding rates is the need for women to return to work. Many employers do not provide the time or the space for women to pump their milk, she said.

Kittle and other breastfeeding advocates are optimistic that a provision in the federal health care reform law (PL 111-148) will help improve the situation for working women. The provision requires employers to provide private space and unpaid break time for hourly wage workers who are nursing to pump breastmilk at work. The Department of Labor is finalizing the details of the regulation (Rubin, USA Today, 9/14).

Breastfeeding rates differed depending on geographic location. Western states had the highest rates of breastfed infants, with Utah leading the nation with about 90% of mothers breastfeeding at least temporarily. Mississippi ranked the lowest with only about 50% of mothers attempting to breastfeed (AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 9/13).

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