The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that breastfeeding is one of the most effective preventive measures a parent can take to protect the health of their infant. This reason helps drive the Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity (DNPA) to improve breastfeeding rates throughout the state of Indiana. DNPA supports and works with many organizations and coalitions throughout the state to help support new families and improve breastfeeding environments.

State Breastfeeding Plan

The Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) has developed the Indiana Breastfeeding Plan 2024-2028 and includes goals, objectives, and activities IDOH has identified to promote, support, and encourage breastfeeding in the Hoosier state. This plan is part of the agency’s strategy to improve Indiana’s infant and maternal health outcomes and is focused on increasing access to quality lactation support to ensure that all families have the opportunity to breastfeed for as long as they choose.

Indiana breastfeeding resources

• Indiana Black Breastfeeding Coalition
• Indiana Women, Infants, and Children Program (WIC)
• La Leche League of Indiana
• Indiana Breastfeeding Coalition
• The Milk Bank

Help with latching/pumping for your baby

• Global Health Media – latching demonstration video
• Latching and positioning – Kellymom, an evidence-based website for help with all things related to infant feeding
• More help with latching – La Leche League
• For pumping mothers – Lactation Consultant Nancy Mohrbacher

Breastfeeding Statistics

The CDC mPINC Survey

Hospital routines can help or hinder new mothers and babies while they’re learning to breastfeed. The CDC’s national survey of Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care (mPINC) is administered every two years to monitor and examine changes in practices over time at all hospitals and birth centers with registered maternity beds in the United States and Territories. Check out Indiana’s latest mPINC score and how it compares to the rest of the country here.

Learn More

National Support

The 2011 Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding outlines steps that can be taken to remove some of the obstacles faced by parents who want to breastfeed their babies. The Call-to-Action calls for a society-wide approach to support breastfeeding. A 2009 American Academy of Pediatrics cost analysis found that if 90% of families breastfed exclusively for 6 months, the United States would save $13 billion and prevent nearly 1,000 infant deaths per year.

Support in the Workplace

Almost 8o% of Indiana mothers start off breastfeeding, but the barriers of returning to work cause many to stop before they have reached their infant feeding goals. It is important that parents who return to work or school be supported while balancing work and family responsibilities. Your right to express milk at work is protected by federal law that requires employers to provide two basic types of accommodations for employees: time and space for breastfeeding or pumping milk. Information about lactation laws can be found on the United States Breastfeeding Committee website. The Office on Women’s Health provides information to help mothers successfully combine work and lactation. The Business Case for Breastfeeding by the Office on Women’s Health is a comprehensive program designed to educate employers about the value of supporting breastfeeding employees in the workplace.

More Resources

• Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine
• American Academy of Pediatrics
• CDC Breastfeeding Report Cards - get the latest breastfeeding statistics by state
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – Breastfeeding
• Office on Women’s Health – Breastfeeding

Contact

Ann Marie Neeley, Statewide Breastfeeding Initiatives Manager
aneeley1@health.in.gov
(317) 234-3435