Rhode Island Best Place in U.S. for Breastfeeding Mothers to Deliver a Baby

Rhode Island is the best place in America for mothers to deliver a baby, if they want to breast feed, according to a new report card issued this week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A few other states did almost as well.

New Hampshire scored a 90 for its breastfeeding care at maternity center and hospitals. That number tied Delaware.

But Rhode Island did better. The littlest state in the nation reeled in a whopping 96. According to the report card, 98.2 percent of live births in Rhode Island happened at so-called baby-friendly hospitals, meaning they're recognized by the World Health Organization and the United Nations as the best care providers for breastfeeding.

By comparison, 50 percent of Granite State babies were born at baby-friendly facilities. That was good enough for third place behind Delaware at 85.8 percent.

In the big picture, Rhode Island has gained some ground over the past two years in the campaign to encourage breastfeeding,

On one key indictor -- the breastfeeding rate (or proportion of babies who were ever breastfed) -- its score inched up from 79.7 (in the CDC's 2014 report card) to 81.8 this year.

Also when considering another key indicator -- how many babies are still being exclusively breast fed at six months -- Rhode Island at 27.4 percent compared favorably to other U.S. states.

Only eight states -- Montana (33.8 percent); Maine (32 percent); Vermont (31.3 percent); Oregon (30.6 percent); Hawaii (30 percent); Idaho (28.1 percent); Washington (28 percent); and Alaska (27.8 percent) -- did better.

Massachusetts, which is one of only 29 states to already meet the 2020 goal for percentage ever breastfed, actually did worse in that category. The Bay State dropped down to 19.9 percent, when counting babies exclusively on breast milk when six months old. However, 67.9 percent of Bay State babies were still being fed some breast milk at six months, and that statistic was third best in the U.S. behind Utah at 70.4 percent and Oregon at 68.2 percent.

Besides Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and Maine are also among the 29 states meeting the 2020 goals.

Rhode Island and New Hampshire are the only two New England states yet to meet the 2020 goals.

The CDC considers breastfeeding "a key strategy to improve public health" with benefits for mothers, infants and children. Ideally, infants should be exclusively breast fed for their first six months and then fed some breast milk along with other foods for their first year, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.