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The U.S. government and women's health

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Government in action on breastfeeding

• The National Breastfeeding Helpline
• Partnerships

The Office on Women's Health (OWH) continues to partner with other agencies and organizations to focus attention on the importance of breastfeeding. Below are some of the breastfeeding promotion initiatives and activities with which the Office on Women's Health is involved.

• Business Case for Breastfeeding
• National Breastfeeding Campaign
• HHS Blueprints and Breastfeeding Policy Statements

The National Breastfeeding Helpline

Project leader: Ann Abercrombie, M.L.S.

The Office on Women's Health (OWH) partnered with La Leche League International to train the information specialists of womenshealth.gov to support OWH's new National Breastfeeding Helpline. Information specialists can help callers with common breastfeeding issues such as nursing positions and questions about pumping and storage. They can provide the support moms and dads need to make breastfeeding a success. The Helpline also provides tips for working moms who would like to continue breastfeeding, and offer suggestions for financial support. The Helpline, which operates in both English and Spanish, is open to nursing mothers as well as their partners, families, prospective parents, health professionals, and institutions seeking to better educate new mothers about the benefits of breastfeeding. With the launch of the new National Breastfeeding Helpline, OWH also launched a new breastfeeding section of womenshealth.gov. The new section was designed to provide practical, helpful breastfeeding information and to help improve breastfeeding rates in all women.

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Partnerships

Project leader: Suzanne Haynes, Ph.D.

After announcing the HHS Blueprint for Action on Breastfeeding, the OWH received a tremendous response from consumers, organizations, and public health professionals concerned about the disparities in breastfeeding rates among white and African American mothers. To address this issue, the Office on Women's Health has partnered with the African-American Breastfeeding Alliance, Inc. (AABA), a community-based non-profit organization whose purpose is to educate the African American community about the benefits of breastfeeding through education, counseling, training, and advocacy. This community partnership with AABA began in December of 2000.

Content last updated August 1, 2010.

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