Local efforts aim to promote breast-feeding by poor women

Jill Von Bruck breast-fed each of her sons, Alex and Aaron, for nearly 2-½ years. The Woodinville mother said she did it not only because of the nutritional value of breast milk, but also for the bonding benefits.

"My mother thinks breast-feeding is disgusting," said Von Bruck, 32, who was raised on formula. "I don't understand how someone would not nurse. That's what breasts are for."

Von Bruck is an exception in America, where at least 80 percent of mothers wean their babies off breast milk before they are a year old. And as an African-American mother, nursing her boys until their preschool years practically made Von Bruck an oddity.



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