Editor’s Note: Every week, Breaking Bronx features a health-related story, event or tidbit as part of an online expansion of our Be Healthy! column.

A slew of pediatric nurses and Ob/Gyns in white coats lined the lobby of Montefiore Medical Center’s Weiler Hospital yesterday morning in celebration of World Breastfeeding Week, a globally-recognized event that takes place from Aug. 1 to 7 in 120 countries and is designed to educate families about the benefits of breastfeeding.

The hospital aims to become one of 10 “Baby Friendly” facilities recognized by Baby Friendly USA’s “Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative,” a project started in 1991 by the World Health Organization and UNICEF that encourages hospitals to support breastfeeding mothers. Click for more information.

“We encourage breastfeeding from day one,” said Susan Latuga, a pediatric neonatologist. “It’s the ideal nutrition because it has evolved for years for human babies,” she said.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Montefiore statistics, babies who breastfeed typically have a stronger immune system, fewer ear infections, and cases of diarrhea, decreased rates of type 1 and type 2 DM and childhood leukemia, fewer allergic skin infections, a lower risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), and are less likely to become overweight as children.

Drs. Talitha Bruney and Abie Iyare, co-chairs of Montefiore’s Breastfeeding Committee,  reported that breastfeeding for nine months reduces an infant’s odds of becoming overweight by over 30 percent.

Mothers also have a lower risk of postpartum hemorrhage, breast and ovarian cancers, and are at a lower risk for developing asthma, eczema, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, have an easier time losing weight after pregnancy, and save money on the cost of formula.

Dr. Steven M. Safyer, president and CEO of Montefiore, called breast milk the “magic formula,” joking that he would have “been better” had he too been breastfed.  “It has all kinds of preventative antibodies for the mother. All the mechanisms of breastfeeding are made for humans,” he said.

So why doesn’t everybody do it?

The most common concern amongst mothers is that they won’t produce enough milk. The second is that the process will hurt. Yet, according to Ferrante, a baby’s stomach is the size of a marble so mothers only produce what is needed, and it isn’t supposed to be painful. “If it does hurt it could be because the baby isn’t latched correctly,” she said

Those who have been diagnosed with HIV, suffer from diabetes or Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), have had breast reductions, or have recently been ill, may have a delay in the production of breast milk or may not be able to breastfeed. Research on the correlation between depressed mothers and breast milk production is still underway.

But who has the time?

Cindy, a working mother who recently gave birth to her third child said she stopped after she went back to work. “I wasn’t sure but I think I’m going to stick to it,” she said. “It’s probably a little harder for working moms, but it’s doable if you have support,” she added.

Weiler hospital provides lactation rooms so mothers like Cindy can pump milk in privacy. According to the U.S. Department of Health’s “Breastfeeding Mothers’ Bill of Rights,” places of employment are also required to allow breastfeeding during the work day.

“Barriers, institutionally and societally, make it hard, but slowly people are realizing it is an option,” Latuga said, indicating that mothers are also allowed to breastfeed in public.

Editor’s note: This Wednesday Aug, 7, North Central Bronx Hospital will provide educational information about breastfeeding in honor of International Breastfeeding Week from 10a.m. to 2p.m. in the main lobby at 3424 Kossuth Avenue. Click for directions.