A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION, Encouraging South Dakota hospitals with maternity care services to become Baby Friendly by implementing the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding.

    WHEREAS, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, the World Health Organization, and the United Nations Children's Fund recommend that most babies be breastfed exclusively for the first six months of life and continue on with breast milk through the first year of life; and

    WHEREAS, in January 2011 the U.S. Surgeon General announced a "Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding" that identified methods in which families, communities, employers, and health care professionals can improve breastfeeding rates and increase support for breastfeeding; and

    WHEREAS, the Governor's Task Force on Infant Mortality has set a goal of reducing the infant mortality rate to 6.0 per 1,000 live births by 2015; and

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    WHEREAS, studies have shown that children who were breastfed had a twenty-one percent lower risk of dying in their first year of life compared to children who were not breastfed; and

    WHEREAS, breastfeeding helps provide unique health benefits to babies including nutrients that help support infant brain development, lower rates of illnesses and diseases such as ear infections, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), asthma, and childhood obesity; and

    WHEREAS, breastfeeding has positive economic impacts on families and taxpayers by decreasing the need to pay for medical care for a sick infant and eliminating the need to purchase formula; and

    WHEREAS, breastfeeding contributes to a more productive workforce because parents miss fewer day of work to care for a sick infant; and

    WHEREAS, breastfeeding offers numerous health benefits to new mothers by reducing their risk of diabetes, breast and ovarian cancers, and postpartum depression; and

    WHEREAS, data from the 2011 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Breastfeeding Report Card shows that only fifteen percent of South Dakota babies met the recommendations of exclusive breastfeeding for six months; and

    WHEREAS, South Dakota is far below the Healthy People 2020 Objectives in regards to breastfeeding continuation and exclusivity rates; and

    WHEREAS, babies born in hospitals that follow the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding Program have significantly higher rates of breastfeeding initiation, exclusivity, and extended breastfeeding than the national average:

    NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the House of Representatives of the Eighty-seventh Legislature of the State of South Dakota, the Senate concurring therein, that the Legislature recognizes the unique health, economic, and societal benefits that breastfeeding provides to babies, mothers, families, and the community as a whole; and

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    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Legislature shall work to ensure that barriers to initiation and continuation of breastfeeding are removed and that a mother's right to breastfeed is upheld; and

    BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Legislature strongly encourages South Dakota hospitals providing maternity care services to become Baby Friendly by implementing the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding.