This research team also included nutritionist Corinne Montandon, who helped the girls keep a food journal to track the amounts and kinds of foods they ate. Montandon reviewed the journals for accuracy and sometimes provided a little advice. She cautioned one mother, for example, against trying to crash diet her way back to a pre-pregnancy figure. The number of U.S. teenagers becoming pregnant has been declining, but many groups estimate half a million girls under 20 do give birth annually. For those who choose to raise their infants, breast-feeding can offer advantages such as protection against a broad range of infections and enhanced bonding.
Teenagers are less likely to chose breast-feeding than adults, however.
But teens face special problems, according to a survey by Alain Joffe, M.D., of the Department of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University Hospital. Joffe has studied breast-feeding among 250 inner city teens in Baltimore, Maryland. Susan Radius, a sociologist at nearby Towson University, was a co-author. The researchers found teenage mothers who returned to high school had a hard time working nursing into their schedule. That person could be her mother, aunt, or other older friend who had breast-fed successfully and could provide advice.