http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/pdf/2013breastfeedingreportcard.pdf

Only 16% of mothers exclusively breastfeed at 6 months. 49% breastfeed and supplement. 35% use formula only.

The state that breastfeeds exclusively the most is California (no surprise) at 27.4%. The state with the lowest breastfeeding percent is Tennessee with 4.1%.

Okay, here's my rant. The mantra is that most mothers should be able to breastfeed exclusively to a year. But I think if that was really true, the number would be quite a bit higher than 16% for the 6 month benchmark. "But it's so hard for working moms!" Well, quite a few of us (myself included) pump exclusively, so I don't know if that's really the culprit. Plus, 29% of women stay home with their kids and don't have the back-to-work problems to contend with. So if they breastfeed at the same rate as the general population (I would argue it is probably higher, but let's be conservative), then 19% of the general population should EBF just because of the stay-at-home mothers (if indeed it was going back to work that is hindering EBF), taking the working moms out of the equation altogether. The fact that even in California, where there is so much BF support in the hospitals and there is so much social pressure to breastfeed, the number only climbs to 27%. That tells me that there is something else going on. And to be honest, I suspect that something has to do with women's supply just naturally dropping at 6 months and most women being unable to EBF 6 Months +.

I mean, what environmental factor could be so significant that it could account for only 1 in 6 women being able to EBF at 6 months?

And why does all this matter? Because expectations are everything. http://www.skepticalob.com/2014/08/breaking-news-telling-new-mothers-they-are-breastfeeding-failures-leads-to-depression.html

"Breastfeeding has no impact one way or the other on maternal mental health, but pressure to breastfeed has a dramatic effect on maternal mental health. When women could not meet their own needs, either because they could not breastfeed when they wanted to do so or because they successfully breastfed despite not wanting to do so, their risk of postpartum depression doubled."

If you are told repeatedly that you should be able to breastfeed for a full year without supply problems, it sets you up for feeling like a failure. Which in turn doubles your risk for depression. What are your thoughts?