We already know how to prevent breast-feeding transmission: Don't breast-feed," says Lynne Mofenson of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Md.
The researchers didn't randomly assign women to breast-feed or formula feed, but studied healthy and HIV-infected women who chose to breast-feed only, bottle-feed only, or supplement breast-feeding with formula, milk, or solid foods.
That is, women should exclusively breast-feed if they don't have access to clean water, good health care and medicines, and formula.
The purpose of all this is to clear the air and create an ambience so a woman can breast-feed in public, in private, anywhere she has a right to be,'' said majority leader Antonio Villaraigosa, D-Los Angeles, AB 157's sponsor.
I believe very strongly in a woman's right to breast-feed.
Although Susan Siskin, a La Leche League group leader, thought the women-only section of her gym was a discreet place to breast-feed her first child eight years ago, she remembers being confronted by an angry woman that day.
Doing so might encourage more moms to breast-feed and increase people's awareness about the benefits.
