Only a handful of hospitals and birthing centers across the United States meet the highest standards for encouraging new mothers to breast-feed their infants.

Soon, all Kaiser Permanente facilities will join that distinct group.

"Astronomical" was how Richard Schanler of the American Academy of Pediatrics described the move, which Kaiser announced Tuesday.

"This is phenomenal that a hospital system is doing this," Schanler said.

A growing body of research shows that breast-feeding reduces newborns' risk of common ailments such as pneumonia, ear infections, upset stomach and diarrhea, said Schanler, chairman of the academy's section on breast-feeding and chief of neonatology at Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York.

Longer term, he said, people who breast-fed as infants have a lower risk of diabetes, heart disease and obesity in adulthood.

But hospital practices are just starting to catch up to the research. Only 121 hospitals and birthing centers across the country meet the designation "Baby Friendly," a label created by the World Health Organization and UNICEF for sites that follow certain practices to promote breast-feeding. Worldwide, more than 19,000 medical facilities have earned the designation.

Kaiser announced Tuesday that by the start of 2013, all 29 of its birthing sites will meet at least one of two high breast-feeding standards.

They either will be designated as baby friendly or join a program of the Joint Commission, the national nonprofit that accredits hospitals, which aims to have as many new moms as possible feeding their babies only breast milk, no formula, when they leave the hospital.

"It should be the normal way to feed a baby," said Elizabeth Vigil, who coordinates breast-feeding programs for Sacramento County. "In the U.S., bottle feeding is the norm."

Locally, Kaiser's south Sacramento medical center, Sutter Davis Hospital, Woodland Memorial Hospital and the Birth Center in Fair Oaks are currently rated Baby Friendly. Now, Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Roseville, and 11 other Kaiser sites around Northern California will also revise their practices to promote breast-feeding.

Baby Friendly practices include, for instance, training all staff members on lactation, helping mothers begin breast-feeding within an hour of giving birth and giving newborns no formula unless it's medically necessary.

"Babies are wired to go skin to skin with their moms and be put to the breast," said Barb Hanson, assistant manager of lactation services at Kaiser's south Sacramento site. "So if that baby is born and put over in a warmer and removed from mom, you've just interrupted the beginning of infant feeding. The most important time is the first few hours after a baby is born."

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