Fit Pregnancy’s “Best Cities in America to Have a Baby”

MSNBC reports today on Fit Pregnancy magazine’s “Best Cities in America to Have a Baby.” The magazine took into account many factors when evaluating each of 50 major U.S. cities: doctors and hospitals, doulas, midwives, birth and health risk, stroller-friendly trails and parks, affordability, and of course, breastfeeding. In fact, three of the top five cities ranked highly due to their breastfeeding success rates. According to Fit Pregnancy, the top five cities in which to have a baby are:

1. Boston, Massachusetts
2. San Francisco, California
3. Minneapolis, Minnesota
4. Portland, Oregon
5. Omaha, Nebraska

I can vouch for Boston as that’s where I had my first daughter. Brigham and Women’s Hospital is excellent and had policies that were supportive of breastfeeding such as allowing babies to “room-in” with the mothers rather than forcing them to stay in the nursery. As long as my husband and I were firm about my desire to breastfeed, we were supported (I do vaguely remember my husband having to fight off a nurse who wanted to give my daughter sugar water for no apparent reason). The day after the birth I attended a helpful breastfeeding class offered by the hospital. Ironically, babies were not allowed to attend the class and I have video of my husband pacifying my daughter with his pinky finger while I was away! Fortunately she stayed happy and I was back soon enough to try out my newly-learned skills on a hungry baby!

Boston also ranked highly because of its highly regarded fertility clinics. I am also quite familiar with those. I benefited from the fact that Massachusetts is one of the handful of U.S. states that mandates insurance coverage for infertility treatment. I didn’t end up getting pregnant in Boston–in fact we joke that my daughter was “Made in Canada.”

San Francisco also mandates insurance coverage for infertility treatment other than in vitro fertilization. San Francisco ranked highly because of its breastfeeding success:

Breastfeeding rates are higher than average, probably due at least in part to progressive state laws that guarantee a mother the right to breastfeed in public or pump at work.

Portland ranked fourth overall but had the distinction of being first for breastfeeding:

Portland moms come in at number one for nursing their babies: Fully 89 percent initiate breastfeeding, and six months later 57 percent are still at it. Not surprisingly, we found more breastfeeding-support stores and lactation consultants per live birth than virtually anywhere else.

Omaha came in fifth in part because of its breastfeeding-friendly hospital:

Omaha’s Methodist Hospital is one of just 50 Baby Friendly Hospitals in the U.S., designated for meeting UNICEF/World Health Organization standards for supporting breastfeeding.

Under the UNICEF/WHO Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, a “maternity facility can be designated ‘baby-friendly’ when it does not accept free or low-cost breastmilk substitutes, feeding bottles or teats, and has implemented 10 specific steps to support successful breastfeeding.”

It’s wonderful to highlight and commend the cities that are best for starting a family in the United States. Perhaps it’s even more valuable though to take a look at those of the 50 major cities that have the worst records and ponder what can be done about them. I report on the breastfeeding records of some of those cities here.