By Naomi Bromberg Bar-Yam, PhD
How hospitals support, or fail to support, breastfeeding in the hours and days after birth has a lasting impact on families. One of the most important tools we have to understand and improve those practices is the CDC’s Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care survey (mPINC).
Right now, mPINC is undergoing a required federal review, and public comments are being accepted through Friday, February 13, 2026. This is an important moment for the breastfeeding community to speak up.
What Is mPINC?
mPINC is a national bi-annual survey of hospitals and birth centers that provide maternity care. It asks about:
- Staff training in breastfeeding support
- Clinical practices such as skin-to-skin care and rooming-in
- Hospital policies that support, or undermine, breastfeeding
- Hospital use of donor milk
- Education and support offered to families during the birth hospitalization
Participating hospitals receive confidential, individualized reports comparing their practices to state and national benchmarks. These reports are widely used for quality improvement and accountability.
In Massachusetts, mPINC data have helped hospitals and public health partners identify gaps, track progress, and prioritize improvements in maternity care.
How mPINC Is Different from PRAMS and Why We Need Both
mPINC is often confused with PRAMS (Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System), but they answer different, and equally important, questions.
- mPINC focuses on institutions: what hospitals and birth centers do during labor, delivery, and the postpartum stay.
- PRAMS focuses on people: the lived experiences of birthing individuals after discharge, including breastfeeding duration, barriers, mental health, and access to support.
Together, they tell the full story:
- mPINC shows what care environments offer.
- PRAMS shows how families experience that care and what happens when they return home.
Without mPINC, hospital maternity care practices become invisible. Without PRAMS, the downstream effects of those practices on families are lost.
Why This Comment Period Matters
Under the Paperwork Reduction Act, mPINC is currently in the 30-day Office of Management and Budget (OMB)* review phase. At this stage, public comments are especially important to demonstrate:
- The practical value of the data
- The necessity of continuing the survey
- The role mPINC plays in improving quality and equity in maternity care
A strong public response signals that monitoring breastfeeding-supportive maternity practices remains a public health priority and warrants continued federal investment.
A Broader Moment for Breastfeeding Data
PRAMS is also in the process of review for renewal. The Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition is actively tracking both renewal processes. We are calling for comments on mPINC now, and we will call on our community again when the public comment period for PRAMS is announced.
What You Can Do Right Now
MBC is submitting an organizational comment supporting mPINC. We are asking you, our members, partners, and allies, to add your voices, emphasizing:
- The importance of hospital practices for breastfeeding success
- How mPINC data support quality improvement for hospitals
- Why continued monitoring is essential to reducing disparities
As always, your personal experience is important to share in your comment.
Deadline: Friday, February 13, 2026
To submit comment:
To use our sample text:
Option 1: Cut and paste our text (scroll down) into Comments box on OMB site.
Option 2: Use our downloadable template to create a document for upload to the site.
We understand well that breastfeeding outcomes are shaped by systems, policies, and care environments, not just individual effort. mPINC helps make those systems visible and improvable.
You do not need to be a researcher or policymaker. Comments from clinicians, lactation professionals, educators, and advocates help demonstrate the real-world value of this survey.
Please take a few minutes to submit a comment and help ensure that mPINC, and the broader breastfeeding data infrastructure it supports, remains strong.
* The Office of Management and Budget is part of the executive branch and oversees federal data collection, including CDC, under the Paperwork Reduction Act. This is why public comments to OMB play a critical role in decisions about surveys like mPINC and PRAMS.
Sample Comment Text: Copy, go to OMB site, paste, submit
I am writing to express my strong support for the continued administration of the CDC’s Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care (mPINC) survey.
mPINC is a critical tool for understanding how hospital and birth center maternity care practices support or create barriers to breastfeeding. The practices measured by mPINC, including staff training, clinical routines, and institutional policies, have a direct impact on breastfeeding initiation and early success.
As someone who works in maternal and infant health, I have seen how hospital practices shape breastfeeding outcomes long after discharge. The confidential, hospital-specific feedback reports generated through mPINC are especially valuable for quality improvement and accountability and help facilities identify concrete opportunities to improve care.
I urge the Office of Management and Budget to approve the reinstatement and continuation of the mPINC survey. Continued investment in mPINC is necessary to support evidence-based improvements in maternity care and to reduce persistent inequities in breastfeeding outcomes.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
Naomi Bromberg Bar-Yam, PhD, has been working in maternal and child health for over 35 years as an educator, researcher, advocate, and writer. In addition to serving on the board of Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition, she is past president of the Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA) and is the founding director emerita of Mothers’ Milk Bank Northeast, which provides safe donor milk to hospitals and families throughout the northeastern US. Learn more about her on her LactSpeak profile.
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