Data: Few moms breast-feed beyond 6 months

WASHINGTON -- The real issue with breast-feeding is this: Too few infants who could really benefit from it are getting mom's milk.

Sure, Time magazine's cover photo of a woman breast-feeding her 3-year-old is generating debate about how old is too old. But examples like that are pretty rare.

About three-quarters of U.S. mothers say they breast-feed during their baby's first days and weeks of life. Then it drops off fast. About 44 percent do at least some breast-feeding for six months. But only 15 percent follow advice from the American Academy of Pediatrics that babies receive breast milk alone for that time span.

And by their first birthday, fewer than a quarter of children are getting breast milk, according to the government's latest national report card on breast-feeding. That's a public health issue, because breast-feeding brings so many benefits to babies.

By 2020, U.S. health goals call for more than a quarter of babies to be exclusively breast-fed through their first six months, and for more than a third to still be nursing when they turn 1.

Not every mother can or chooses to breast-feed. But the academy's latest update, published in March in the journal Pediatrics, lists the benefits of breast-feeding for at least several months and up to a year:

Breast-fed infants have a lower risk of sudden infant death syndrome.

They suffer fewer illnesses such as diarrhea, earaches and pneumonia, because breast milk contains antibodies that help fend off infections until their immune systems become robust.

They're less likely to develop asthma, or even to become fat later in childhood.

Moms can benefit, too, decreasing their risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer.

How old is too old for the child? Pediatricians' guidelines say breast-feeding should continue along with solid foods to age 1 -- "or as long as mutually desired by mother and infant." The World Health Organization recommends continuing "along with appropriate complementary foods up to 2 years of age or beyond."