In an effort to ensure that “every child has a healthy start in life,” U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., unveiled the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Blueprint for Action on Breastfeeding. The blueprint promotes the benefits of breastfeeding based on education, training, awareness, support and research.
The “comprehensive national framework” was officially announced Oct. 30. Dr. Satcher appeared at the AAP Annual Meeting in Chicago Nov. 1 to discuss the plan.
In essence, it states that infants should be exclusively breastfed during the first four to six months of life, but preferably for a full six months. The plan also encourages mothers to breastfeed their infants through the first year of life. It fully suports the Academy’s policies titled “Breastfeeding and the Use of Human Milk” (
