Breastfeeding Baby Benefits: More Hospitals Send New Moms Home Sans Free Formula

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More and more hospitals are sending new moms home without free baby formula giveaways. This has led to the encouragement of breastfeeding among new mothers, a new study shows.

The study published on Monday in the journal Pediatrics has found that in 2013, less than a third of U.S. maternity hospitals handed out baby formula—a drastic change compared to 2007, where almost three-fourths of hospitals offered baby formula giveaways.

"In 2007, there was only one state (Rhode Island) in which more than 25 percent of hospitals distributed infant formula discharge packs to breastfeeding mothers, whereas in 2013 there were 24 such states and territories," Dr. Jennifer M. Nelson and her team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wrote in the study.

According to Review Journal, it is recommended for mothers to breastfeed their infants until at least six months, so that their babies can receive more than basic nutrition and protection against certain illnesses.

However, Dr. Nelson noted that "only 19 percent of infants in the United States are being exclusively breastfed at six months."

Breast milk contains disease-fighting components that protect babies from numerous diseases such as meningitis, ear infection, lower respiratory infection, sudden infant death syndrome, childhood obesity and diabetes, among others.

"Hospitals and health care systems are places we look to for guidance on health," Dr. Nelson said in an email. "When hospitals distribute formula to breastfeeding mothers, it signals that formula feeding is as good as breastfeeding."

There have been a number of studies that babies who are breastfed go a long way in life since they grow up to be more intelligent and successful as adults. Breastfeeding is also beneficial for mothers because it helps reduce the risk of breast cancer, its recurrence and its fatal effects.

Other factors that may hamper women from breastfeeding include: limited maternity leave, difficulty in producing milk and the discouragement mothers feel when breastfeeding out in public.

However, according to Nelson and her colleagues, "Many facilities are recognizing the importance of breastfeeding and are striving toward improving their maternity care practices to support breastfeeding."

Interestingly, Pope Francis is also an advocate of breastfeeding. While he was holding baptismal rights for infants at the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City, he encouraged mothers to breastfeed their children if they cry of hunger.

"You mothers give your children milk and even now, if they cry because they are hungry, breastfeed them, don't worry," Pope Francis said, according to NBC News.