The board of the child advocacy group First 5 LA is putting their money where their mouth is to encourage breastfeeding in the Southland, it was announced Wednesday.
The group will spend up to $10.5 million over five years to fund the campaign.
Los Angeles County has a 24.1 percent rate of breastfeeding mothers, compared to the statewide rate of 42.7 percent.
"All of the studies show that mothers benefit greatly from having full knowledge of the significant benefits of breastfeeding their newborn babies," said county Supervisor Don Knabe, who chairs the First 5 LA Commission.
"We must do what we can to increase that knowledge and hopefully increase the breastfeeding rates, and the best place to start is with the hospitals," he said.
The grants will fund outreach efforts to hospitals and a partnership with the California Hospital Medical Center to promote breastfeeding at about 20 hospitals with low breastfeeding rates, according to First 5 LA.
First 5 LA uses grants funded by Proposition 10 tobacco tax revenues.
