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What's Good

•Illinois has particularly progressive laws guaranteeing a nursing mother the right to breastfeed in public.

•State laws require health insurance companies to provide or offer at least some coverage for fertility-related services.

•Illinois stands out in a measure of legislation related to cord blood education, research and related issues.

Needs Improvement

•Chicago babies are 13 percent more likely than average to be born with low birth weight.

•Air quality here is worse here than most cities in our survey. Air quality has been linked to childhood asthma and fertility rates, among other things.

•Relative to population, Chicago has fewer specialty retailers of healthy/organic foods and vitamins than most places in our survey.

•Just 67 percent of Chicago mothers attempt breastfeeding. That's the 9th lowest percentage of any city in our report. The average for cities in our survey is 75 percent.

•Not much can be done about the weather, but the local climate can be extreme -- not conducive to getting out and working off pregnancy weight gain.

•6.8 percent of Chicago mothers breastfeed their babies exclusively (meaning no solids, formula or other liquids) for 6 months or longer as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. That's the 4th lowest percentage among cities in our survey. The average for our survey is 12 percent.

•According to our survey of park departments, for every 10,000 residents, Chicago has 28 miles of public trails and pathways for hiking and stroller use, the 3rd lowest in our survey. The average city in our survey has 79 trail miles for every 10,000 residents.

•With one acre of parkland for every 375 residents, there's 216 percent less public park space than average here, relative to population.

•Expecting and new moms have few parks: Chicago's ratio of parks to residents is 1 : 4,979. The average in our survey is 1 : 3,790.

•Chicago has a limited number of high-risk pediatricians, 59 percent less than average per capita and the 11th lowest in our survey.

•There are just 3.5 licensed day care centers for every 1,000 children under 4 years. The average city in our survey has 5.9.

•According to the Urban Mobility Report from Texas A&M University, Chicago has one of the worst commutes of any city in our survey. It takes 57 percent longer to drive the same route during rush hour than in free-flowing traffic. That puts a lot more pressure on parents rushing to day care at the end of the day.

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