BALTIMORE -- More and more mothers these days are choosing to breast feed their babies, but let's face it: breastfeeding can be easier for some women than others.
It raises the question: How long do experts say you should you breast feed your baby?
"So everything went OK with the first child. I was able to breast feed for 13 months," mother Alex Hewett said.
Hewett said she was fortunate to be able to breast feed her two sons. She said the second time around was not so easy and she could only do it for a limited time.
"They call breast milk liquid gold, but not every woman is able to breast feed. We should support the choices. Support what your body can do. Not everybody can, so just love your baby," Hewett said.
Margie Kay is a lactation specialist at Mercy Medical Center.
"Most hospitals throughout the US do now have board certified lactation specialists like myself and we're here to help when you're in hospitals and we're to help have help when you go home," Kay said.
"As long as the mother and the child are comfortable doing it," Mercy Medical Center Dr. Robert Atlas said. "The world health organization wants at least a year, if at all possible. We're trying to get 75 percent of our women to breast feed for six months because of the health benefits."
Atlas said there is evidence that the longer a woman breast feeds the greater the benefits to the baby.
"Decreasing allergies, asthma, respiratory illnesses and illnesses in general, and so that has been very clearly shown," Atlas said.
Associated Press