Bear River Health Department recognized for helping promote breastfeeding

Efforts to get more mothers to breastfeed their babies are paying off as 79 percent of moms in the U.S. begin nursing, and the health benefits for them and their babies are many. Photo credit: California Department of Public Health.

With help from the Bear River Health Department’s Women, Infants and Children program, also known as WIC, more and more women are choosing to breastfeed their babies.

In the department’s annual report to the Cache County Council, BRHD Public Information Officer Jill Parker said the program received the <a href=”https://health.utah.gov/featured-news/usda-recognizes-utah-agencies-for-exemplary-support-for-breastfeeding-mothers” target=”_blank”>Gold Premier Award</a>, one of only six across the country for the exemplary peer counselor programs.

She said it is an amazing program.

“They were one of six breast feeding programs nationwide to receive an award from the (United States Department of Agriculture), which was pretty significant,” Parker explained. “It was related to how many women they have who breast feed for a year. They work very closely with work sites, with mothers, with the hospitals to provide any assistance that they can.”

Parker said 33.2% of the women served were exclusively breastfeeding at six months compared to the national average of 12.9%.

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