Military Honors Mothers, Infants by Supporting Breastfeeding

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that 60 percent of mothers in the U.S. stop breast feeding sooner than planned, and that only one out of four infants are exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life, the medically recommended duration. The Department of Defense and service military policies have been created and updated to ensure military mothers have the time, resources, and leadership support to breastfeed for six months after birth. (Defense Health Agency Public Health graphic illustration by Ethel Kefauver)