U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin addresses the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, March 30, 2010. (Photo by Penny Starr/CNSNews.com)

(CNSNews.com) – Americans don’t hear much from U.S. Surgeon-General Regina Benjamin, but on Thursday, she issued a news release urging "everyone" to "help make breastfeeding easier.” She also cited the “health benefits” of breastfeeding for baby and mother.

The surgeon-general’s “call to action” identifies ways that families, communities, employers and health care professionals can improve breastfeeding rates and increase support for breastfeeding.

Benjamin, pointing to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control, said breastfeeding rates are “particularly low” among African-American women.

“Many mothers who attempt to breastfeed say several factors impede their efforts, such as a lack of support at home; absence of family members who have experience with breastfeeding; a lack of breastfeeding information from health care clinicians; a lack of time and privacy to breastfeed or express milk at the workplace; and an inability to connect with other breastfeeding mothers in their communities,” the news release said.

Why the sudden government push for breastfeeding? Dr. Benjamin says breastfeeding protects babies from illness, including asthma; it may ward off obesity; and it may protect mothers from breast and ovarian cancers.

Benjamin also pointed to a study in the journal Pediatrics estimating that the nation would save $13 billion per year in health care and other costs if 90 percent of U.S. babies were exclusively breastfed for six months.

“I believe that we as a nation are beginning to see a shift in how we think and talk about breastfeeding,” said Dr. Benjamin.  “With this ‘Call to Action,’ I am urging everyone to help make breastfeeding easier.”

Benjamin also stated that breastfeeding is a personal decision – and “no mother should be made to feel guilty if she cannot or chooses not to breastfeed.”

‘Lactation support’

Among the surgeon-general’s recommendations:

-- Communities should expand and improve programs that provide mother-to-mother support and peer counseling.

-- Health care systems should ensure that maternity care practices provide education and counseling on breastfeeding.  Hospitals should become more “baby-friendly,” by taking steps like those recommended by the UNICEF/WHO’s Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (UNICEF and WHO are United Nations agencies).

-- Clinicians should be trained to properly care for breastfeeding mothers and babies.  They should promote breastfeeding to their pregnant patients and make sure that mothers receive the best advice on how to breastfeed.

-- Employers should work toward establishing paid maternity leave and high-quality lactation support programs.  Employers should expand the use of programs that allow nursing mothers to have their babies close by so they can feed them during the day.  They should also provide women with break time and private space to express breast milk.

-- Families should give mothers the support and encouragement they need to breastfeed. Family members can help mothers prepare for breastfeeding and support their continued breastfeeding, including after her return to work or school.