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RECOGNIZING THE IMPORTANCE OF PROPER INFANT NUTRITION AND THE CREATION OF OUTREACH NUTRITIONAL AND HEALTH-SCREENING PROGRAMS, AND ACKNOWLEDGING THE BENEFITS OF BREASTFEEDING FOR BOTH INFANTS AND MOTHERS.
Whereas, scientific research demonstrates that good nutrition begins in utero and extends throughout the first year of life and is, therefore, critical to the healthy growth and development of infants; and
Whereas, research further shows that breastfeeding is the best form of infant nutrition because it provides certain health benefits for both the mother and child; and
Whereas, the Surgeon General and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that babies be fed exclusively with breast milk for the first six months of life and that they continue with breast milk through the first year of life; and
Whereas, the United States government's Healthy People 2020 goals seek to increase the percentage of women who initiate breastfeeding to 81.9 percent and who continue to breastfeed when their baby is six months of age to 60.6 percent; and
Whereas, the method of feeding a baby is a personal choice for a mother, a choice which is often made based on the best feeding option for her infant, given her and her family's life circumstance, including familial, cultural, and community issues, and based on barriers to breastfeeding, including returning to work, medical difficulties, and lack of breastfeeding support; and
Whereas, the Surgeon General's Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and other public health organizations promote breastfeeding goals, and some go beyond this to promote other dietary guidance for feeding an infant under age two or to identify what a mother should do if she cannot or chooses not to breastfeed or needs to supplement breastfeeding; and
Whereas, infant-nutrition research has generated a range of iron-fortified infant formulas that addresses a critical need in providing a safe and nutritious alternative to breast milk for mothers who cannot or choose not to breastfeed; and
Whereas, new mothers should be adequately informed about the feeding options available to them and need information, guidance, and support in order to make a decision that helps them to provide the best nutritional start for their babies. Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:
That the members of the South Carolina General Assembly, by this resolution, recognize the importance of proper infant nutrition and the creation of outreach nutritional and health-screening programs, and acknowledge the benefits of breastfeeding for both infants and mothers.
Be it further resolved that the members of the South Carolina General Assembly encourage appropriate state and local, as well as faith-based, agencies to develop partnerships with families, communities, and health-care providers to evaluate the status of outreach; to develop, test, and replicate nutritional programs to reach and teach at-risk communities, starting with the most basic nutritional-risk screenings for mothers; and to provide mothers and their children access to nutritional programs, especially those programs focusing on nutrition that begins in utero and continues through the first year of life.
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