Oregon Is the Top-Ranked State for Breastfeeding Right After Birth

The study looks at breastfeeding initiation rates, defined as a baby receiving breast milk before being discharged from the hospital or before a birth certificate is completed.

Early breastfeeding increases the likelihood of exclusive breastfeeding and longer breastfeeding, according to Johns Hopkins University. Researchers say breastfeeding provides health benefits for mothers and children, including lower risk for type II diabetes, infections and asthma in children and lower risk of type II diabetes, breast cancer and ovarian cancer in mothers.

The study showed that Hood River County had the highest rate, with 98.6% of babies receiving breast milk before being discharged from the hospital or after their home birth. Clatsop County had the lowest rate of breastfeeding initiation (85.6%).

Higher rates of breastfeeding initiation are linked to areas with higher incomes, younger families and a higher proportion of Latino population, according to a study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Clatsop County is predominantly white, older and less affluent than Hood River County, which is 31.6% Hispanic and has the fifth-highest median income among Oregon counties.

Barriers to breastfeeding include busy work schedules, birth complications, and a lack of community resources or family support. Although breastfeeding is simple in concept, said lactation consultant Annette Magner of Oregon Health & Science University, difficulties with latching, expressing milk and being a parent can leave people feeling isolated and defeated.

“I see new parents blame themselves because they're not succeeding,” she said. “We need to blame our society that we don't help you enough.”

Magner attributes Oregon’s high level of breastfeeding initiation to a supportive culture, noting the state’s long-standing parental leave and workplace breastfeeding policies. Oregon passed legislation in 2007 to guarantee that employees have at least 30 minutes every four hours to express breast milk, and strengthened that law in 2019.

Three years after Oregon’s initial law, Congress passed legislation that ensured breastfeeding time.

Another likely reason for Oregon’s high rate of initial breastfeeding: The state ranked ninth in 2022 for the proportion of eligible people using WIC, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. WIC encourages breastfeeding and provides extra benefits and resources to parents who breastfeed, including more food, breastfeeding education, and breastfeeding aids like pumps.

Local, cost-effective interventions are the best way to boost breastfeeding,” said Tony Grubisec, a co-author of the study and a public policy professor at University of California, Riverside.

“A one-size-fits-all approach to improving breastfeeding rates is inadequate,” he said.

While breastfeeding can benefit the health of children and mothers, Magner said the most important thing is that babies are fed and that parents feel supported.

“I’m not going to say we have to breastfeed no matter what,” she said. “Life doesn't give us everything we want.”