New York State Department of Health Recognizes National Breastfeeding Month and World Breastfeeding Week
Department Aims to Eliminate Barriers to Breast/Chestfeeding
"Nourish, Sustain, Thrive" Marks This Month's Theme
ALBANY, N.Y. (August 6, 2024) – The New York State Department of Health today announced the observance of National Breastfeeding Month and World Breastfeeding Week, August 1 – 7, 2024. The Department continues to promote and support breastfeeding and chestfeeding for the health of infants and parents and seeks to eliminate barriers faced by lactating parents. This month's theme is Nourish, Sustain, Thrive.
"As a pediatrician, I know firsthand the benefits breastfeeding has on the health of the baby," State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said. "Babies have a reduced risk of respiratory diseases, diabetes, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, and birth parents who breastfeed have a lower risk of high blood pressure and cancer. This is why it is critical that we continue to eliminate barriers within our communities, medical institutions, and workplaces so that all families have the support they need to meet their infant feeding goals."
Research shows that human milk provides unique nutrients and antibodies that help protect babies from diseases such as ear infections, lower respiratory infections, and diarrhea, and decrease the risk for asthma, diabetes, and obesity later in life. Babies can consume human milk directly by breastfeeding or chestfeeding (a term used to describe feeding a baby from a person's chest), or by drinking expressed milk from a bottle or cup.
Breastfeeding rates have increased over the past 20 years with more than 87.6 percent of New York infants initiating breastfeeding. However, disparities persist, and rates are below national objectives. In New York, 21.6 percent of infants breastfed exclusively at 6 months and 38.2 percent continue to breastfeed at 12 months, rates well below the Healthy People 2030 objectives of 42 percent and 54 percent.
The State has taken multiple initiatives to eliminate barriers to feeding infants and children human milk.
Beginning June 19, 2024, New York law provides all employees with the right to paid break time to express human milk in the workplace regardless of the size of their employer or the industry they work in. Employers are required to tell employees about their rights regarding human milk expression by providing them the New York State Department of Labor's Policy on the Rights of Employees to Express Breast Milk in the Workplace when they start a new job and annually thereafter. These new requirements follow 2023 amendments requiring all employers to provide expanded workplace accommodations for human milk expression. These new requirements ensure that all workers have the same paid break time and safe, clean accommodations across the state.
The Department's Breastfeeding, Chestfeeding, and Lactation Friendly New York (BFFNY) program aims to increase local capacity and support to improve the continuity of care for breast/chestfeeding, and any human milk feeding families, especially in low income and racially and ethnically diverse communities and to ultimately reduce breast/chest feeding disparities.
The Department administers Breastfeeding Friendly designation programs for childcare centers and home day cares, and outpatient health care practices, including pediatric, OB/GYN, midwifery, family medicine clinics, and federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), to promote policies and practices supportive of human milk feeding in these settings.
In partnership with the University at Albany School of Public Health, the Department provides free training and continuing education opportunities for health care, lactation, and public health practitioners through the annual Breastfeeding Grand Rounds and on-demand webinar series, Supporting and Promoting Breastfeeding, Chestfeeding and Lactation in Health Care Settings.
New York State (NYS) WIC recognizes that breastfeeding/chestfeeding is the standard method of infant feeding and nutrition and provides numerous health benefits for the parent and the infant. A major goal of the WIC program is to improve the nutritional status of participants; therefore, unless medically contraindicated, WIC staff provide education and anticipatory guidance about breastfeeding, encourage participants to breastfeed/chestfeed for as long as possible, and provide appropriate support for the breastfeeding/chestfeeding parents.
New York State WIC program efforts to promote and support breastfeeding/chestfeeding include but are not limited to trained breastfeeding experts and peer counselor support at every local agency, food packages to support breastfeeding, and free pumps for those that need them. Local agencies across the state are now celebrating World Breastfeeding Week and National Breastfeeding month with various events that are open to the public, click the link to learn more.
The Department also provides lactation support through state and federally funded home visiting programs that work to engage pregnant, postpartum, and interconception individuals and their families in healthcare and other supportive services such as group activities like childbirth/parenting classes, lactation counselors and cafes' and through outreach, screening, care coordination, referral, and follow-up.
More information about this month's theme and related observances here.
Community-based support available to families feeding infants and children human milk can be found here.
Breastfeeding Friendly Childcare can be found here.
Breastfeeding friendly practices can be found here.
More information about Home Visiting Programs can be found here.
