News of Interest for Late-in-Life Moms June 16, 2008

In the news:


Hospitals do poorly on breastfeeding support
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported most U.S. hospitals don't do well when it comes to promoting breast-feeding.
Practices unfriendly to breast-feeding were common throughout the country, the survey found. About a quarter of hospitals reported giving formula or some other supplement to more than half of their healthy, full-term newborns. The practice was common even when mothers were able and willing to breast-feed.

Troubling rise in underweight babies in U.S.
The percentage of underweight babies born in the U.S. has increased to its highest rate in 40 years, according to a new report.
The overall increase in low-birthweight babies was due to a rise in multiple births as more older women use fertility treatments to conceive, according to one of the coordinators of the report. But the birth-weight problem also has been worsening for single-baby deliveries.
The findings were released in the annual Kids Count report on the health and well-being of America's youth.