TULSA, Okla. — Preconceptions about breast-feeding and barriers to continuing after a return to work or school are the main reasons Oklahoma mothers don't try it even once, a newly released study by the Oklahoma State Health Department shows.
A random statewide survey found that 68.9 percent of mothers between 2000 and 2002 tried breast-feeding. That's up from 1999, when 66.5 percent of Oklahoma mothers said they started breast-feeding.
Nationally, 70.9 percent of mothers tried it, according to a survey in 2003, the closest year available for comparison.
Mothers who didn't attempt breast-feeding were most likely to say they "didn't like it" (43.5 percent), followed by a return to work or school (29.5 percent) or having other children to care for (27.4 percent), the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System survey found.
"A lot of people don't think they can do it," said Carol Monlux, a certified lactation consultant at St. John Medical Center in Tulsa, on Monday. "Or maybe they don't have a support system in place."
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