The percentage of U.S. mothers who breast-feed their babies has reached the highest level on record amid mounting evidence that it provides many health benefits to the child, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

The percentage of U.S. mothers whobreast-feedtheir babies has reached the highest level on record amid mounting evidence that it provides many health benefits to the child, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 74 percent of American women who gave birth in 2004 breast-fed their babies, continuing an upward trend since the early 1990s.

"We've made quite a bit of progress," CDC epidemiologist Dr. Celeste Philip, lead author of a CDC report on breast-feeding, said in a telephone interview.

Breast-feeding rates just about reached the government's target of 75 percent, the report showed. But many women did not stick exclusively to breast-feeding in the first months after birth as recommended by experts, turning instead to baby formula, the report showed.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that women who do not have health problems exclusively breast-feed their infants for at least the first six months, with breast-feeding continuing at least through the first year as other foods are introduced. The CDC backs these recommendations, Philip said.

The CDC report found that among infants born in 2004, the rate of exclusive breast-feeding through the first three months after birth was 31 percent, shy of the government's goal of 60 percent, and through six months was 11 percent, below the government target of 25 percent.

The report detailed racial and socioeconomic disparities among women who provide their babies exclusively breast milk in these first months, with black, teen-age, rural, less-educated, lower-income and unmarried mothers less likely to do so.

(Reuters) 據美國官員上周四介紹，美國媽媽母乳喂養的比例創空前紀錄，目前已有大量證據表明母乳喂養對孩子的健康有很多好處。

據疾病控制及預防中心介紹，在2004年生育的美國媽媽中，有74%的人母乳喂養孩子，自上世紀90年代早期開始，這一比例就在不斷上升。

疾病控制及預防中心母乳喂養報告的主要撰寫者、流行病學家西萊斯特·菲利普博士在接受電話采訪時說：“我們在這方面進步很大。”

報告顯示，目前美國母乳喂養的比例剛剛達到政府75%的目標。但很多女性在孩子出生后的頭幾個月并沒有按照專家的建議堅持純母乳喂養，而是加入了一些代乳品。

美國兒科學會建議身體健康的女性至少在最初的六個月對孩子進行純母乳喂養。母乳喂養至少應持續至孩子一周歲，同時可以添加一些其它食品。菲利浦博士說，疾病控制及預防中心對這些建議表示支持。

疾病控制及預防中心的研究報告表明，在2004年出生的新生兒中，頭三個月得到純母乳喂養的比例為31%，低于政府60%的目標；頭六個月得到純母乳喂養的比例為11%，低于政府25%的目標。

報告中詳細分析了在頭三個月至六個月對孩子進行純母乳喂養的女性在種族和社會經濟方面的差別。報告顯示，黑人女性、不到20歲的女性、農村地區、受教育水平低、收入較低的女性、以及未婚媽媽進行純母乳喂養的比例較低