"For infants, it is encouraging that ~76% of mothers have initiated breast-feeding. However, maintenance of breast-feeding for the first 4 to 6 months of life has been less successful. Only 4% of infants participating in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and 17% of the nonparticipants remain exclusively breast fed at 6 months of age. This suggests a strong socioeconomic status gradient in breast-feeding behavior. By 4 to 6 months, 66% of infants have received grain products, 40% vegetables, 42% fruits, 14% meat, and 0.6% some type of sweetened beverages.  By 9 to 11 months, 98% of infants have received grain products, 73% vegetables, 76% fruits, 79% meat, and 11% some type of sweetened beverages.61 Sweetened beverages have been consumed by 28% of the 12- to 14-month-old children, 37% of the 15- to 18-month-old children, and 44% of the 19- to 24-month-old children.  During the transition from a milk-based diet to adult foods, the types of vegetables consumed change adversely. Deep yellow vegetables are consumed by 39% of children at 7 to 8 months and by 13% at 19 to 24 months, whereas French fries become the most commonly consumed vegetable by this age.  Similarly, fruit consumption declines to the point where one third of 19- to 24-month-old children consume no fruit, whereas 60% consume baked desserts, 20% candy, and 44% sweetened beverages on a given day.

Significant adverse changes have occurred in older children's food consumption.  These include a reduction in regular breakfast consumption, an increase in consumption of foods prepared away from the home, an increase in the percentage of total calories from snacks, an increase in consumption of fried and nutrient-poor foods, a significant increase in portion size at each meal, and an increase in consumption of sweetened beverages, whereas dairy product consumption has decreased, and a shift away from high-fiber fruits and vegetables as well as a general decline in fruit and vegetable consumption other than potatoes.  Fried potatoes make up a substantial portion of the vegetable intake.  Sugar consumption has increased, particularly in preschool children.  With regard to micronutrients, the shift in dietary patterns has resulted in median intakes below recommended values of many important nutrients during adolescence.  Sodium intake is far in excess of recommended levels, whereas calcium and potassium intakes are below recommended levels."

(Source: Samuel S. Gidding, Barbara A. Dennison, Cochair; Leann L. Birch, Stephen R. Daniels, Matthew W. Gilman, Alice H. Lichtenstein, Karyl Thomas Rattay, Julia Steinberger, Nicolas Stettler, and Linda Van Horn, "AHA Scientific Statement: Dietary Recommendations for Children and Adolescents, A Guide for Practitioners: Consensus Statement From the American Heart Association Endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics," Circulation 2005; 112:2061-2075; http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/reprint/112/13/2061.)

"Ditch the rice cereal and mashed peas, and make way for enchiladas, curry and even - gasp! - hot peppers. It's time to discard everything you think you know about feeding babies. It turns out most advice parents get about weaning infants onto solid foods - even from pediatricians - is more myth than science

...'There's a bunch of mythology out there about this,' says Dr. David Bergman, a Stanford University pediatrics professor. 'There's not much evidence to support any particular way of doing things.'"

(Source:  J. M. Hirsch, "Experts seek to debunk baby food myths," The Associated Press, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, October 9, 2005; http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1500&slug=FIT%20Baby%20Food%20Myths.)

Public health officials have repeatedly announced their intention in recent years to increase the number of mothers who initiate breastfeeding of their babies and to increase the number of mothers who breastfeed their babies for at least six months. These intentions have been spelled out in both Healthy People 2000 and Healthy People 2010, where public health officials have expressed their hope of raising to 75% the percentage of infants breastfed during the first weeks of life and to 50% the percentage of infants breastfed for at least six months. Unfortunately, these officials have not been able to fulfill their intentions, largely - it appears - because the intentions of individual American mothers do not line up with those of public health officials. 

The role of mothers' prenatal intentions in determining actual breastfeeding behavior comes in for careful scrutiny in a study recently published by health researchers at Emory University, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Not surprisingly, their findings highlight the importance of "the need to continue efforts to understand what influences prenatal breastfeeding intentions, because this is an important predictor of a mother's behavior after delivery." The researchers' data - drawn from 625 women who continued to breastfeed for at least 20 weeks and from 636 women who started breastfeeding but who continued for less than 20 weeks - indicates that employment intentions loom extremely large in shaping breastfeeding behavior. 

Almost half (49%) of women who had "no intention to return to work" were still breastfeeding 20 weeks after delivery, compared to less than 20% of those who intended to return to work part-time after six weeks - and lower percentages for those who intended to return to work full-time after six weeks or who intended to return to full-time or part-time work in less than six weeks. 

The authors of the new study acknowledge "the benefits of breastfeeding for both infants and mothers," noting that "breastfeeding provides optimal nutrients for infant growth and development, enhances infants' immunologic defenses, and facilitates mothers' recovery from childbirth." The researchers even acknowledge that "breastfeeding also provides significant social and economic benefits to both the individuals involved and the nation as a whole," as it makes possible "reduced health care costs" and "increased time available to the parent for the child's siblings and family responsibilities because the infant is healthy." But relatively few will realize these very real benefits of breastfeeding so long as even those who recognize them refuse to call for a reduction in the maternal employment that puts babies on the formula-filled bottle.