Beth Olson’s Laboratory focuses on breastfeeding support for low-income and working women as well as improving infant feeding practices in low income families. Currently, only 25% of women in the United States meet expert recommendations to exclusively breastfeed for 6 months. The risks of suboptimal breastfeeding include maternal and infant morbidity and mortality and significant health care costs. A study by Bartick et al (2017) found 3340 lives and $3 billion in medical costs could be spared if 90% of women met breastfeeding recommendations. Julie Patterson, a current researching graduate student for the Nutritional Sciences Department, focuses her research on looking at health care practices that are associated with better breastfeeding outcomes both in the hospital and primary care setting.
If this laboratory sounds interesting to you, please email bholson@wisc.edu with your inquiries.