Five Worst Cities in America to Have a Baby

Earlier I looked at Fit Pregnancy’s Best Cities in America to Have a Baby. I think it merits a look at the worst cities in America to see how they can improve. Out of the 50 major metropolitan areas examined, the lowest ranked are:

50. Detroit, Michigan
49. Memphis, Tennessee
48. Las Vegas, Nevada
47. Dallas, Texas
46. Fort Worth, Texas

Fit Pregnancy offers a neat feature that allows you to “find your own best city” by rating the importance of nine different factors: affordability, birth risk and health factors, breastfeeding, birthing options, stroller-friendliness, fertility laws and services, hospitals and doctors, safety and child care. When I adjusted breastfeeding to “most important” and all other factors to least important, I got the following breastfeeding report card:

50. Detroit, Michigan
49. Memphis, Tennessee
48. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
47. Las Vegas, Nevada
46. Baltimore, Maryland

(In case you were curious, the top cities for breastfeeding success were: San Francisco, San Diego and Oakland, California, followed by Minneapolis, Minnesota and Honolulu, Hawaii).

Detroit, Michigan “tops” both of the lists of the worst cities. You can see why when you read these dismal breastfeeding statistics:

7.5 percent of Detroit mothers breastfeed their babies exclusively (meaning no solids, formula or other liquids) for 6 months or longer as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. That’s among the bottom 16 [1.6? See Memphis statistics below] percent of cities in our survey.

Once Detroit mothers begin breastfeeding, they are 22 percent less likely than average to continue through 6 months. That’s the 3rd lowest level of follow-through of any city in our report.

Memphis, Tennessee follows close behind Detroit.

10.6 percent of Memphis mothers breastfeed their babies exclusively (meaning no solids, formula or other liquids) for 6 months or longer as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. That’s among the bottom 2 percent of cities in our survey.

By six months of age, 71 percent of Memphis babies aren’t being breastfed at all. That’s the 7th poorest percentage of any city in our report.

Tennessee lacks progressive laws guaranteeing a nursing mother the right to breastfeed in public.[*]

57 percent of Memphis mothers attempt breastfeeding. That’s the 5th lowest percentage of any city in our report. Moms here are 23 percent less likely than average to try breastfeeding.

*Tennessee law changed in April 2006 and it seems fairly progressive to me (although I’d like to see it extended beyond 12 months of age):

A mother has a right to breastfeed her child who is twelve (12) months of age or younger in any location, public or private, where the mother and child are otherwise authorized to be present.

Tennessee law also exempts breastfeeding from the indecency laws, and forbids any local government from prohibiting breastfeeding in public.

Michigan law is less progressive than Tennesee’s. Michigan merely exempts breastfeeding from the public nudity statute and provides that breastfeeding can be a factor considered by the courts when determining parenting time under the child custody act.

I suppose that identifying the problem is the first step to fixing it, but I’m not sure where to go from there. Public education, volunteer breastfeeding counselors, banning formula freebie bags, restricting formula advertising or requiring warning labels on formula? What do you think needs to be done to improve breastfeeding rates?