August is Breastfeeding month in the US
A woman’s ability to grow new humans and feed them from their bodies is a real life superpower. Most women make milk when pregnant and are physically capable of breastfeeding according to recommendations. The benefits of breastfeeding to mom and baby are well known. Unfortunately, there are many barriers for a mother who desires to breastfeed including; millions of advertising dollars spent to make substitutes seem better; hospital policies that interfere with the bonding period immediately after birth; early return to work; social stigma on breastfeeding in public. As a result many women report breastfeeding less than they had intended. Here are a few things that can help increase the chance of breastfeeding success.
- Take the “Golden Hour”: skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth uninterrupted for one hour
- Get help from a lactation consultant early on
- Decrease guests (don’t visit) in the immediate postpartum period
- Support from family and friends to take care of household so new mother can focus on breastfeeding
- Workplace policies that support breastfeeding moms
- Drop all or none thinking—exclusive breastfeeding is desired but may not be possible for many
- Leave the guilt behind: breastfeeding is learned behavior for moms and babies. Commit every day to do the best you can
World Breastfeeding
- To encourage breastfeeding and improve the health of babies around the world
- Available to almost all women and babies worldwide regardless of income
- human milk is the best food for human babies
- breastfeeding avoids the hazards of unclean water or worries about bacterial growth on bottles and supplies
- Breastmilk is best tolerated by most infants
- is the best way to provide infants with the nutrients they need
- provides some antibodies to a newborn who lacks their own immune system
Breastfeeding in Recent News
- In July at a World Health Assembly, a resolution that was intended to declare that mother’s milk is healthiest for children and countries should strive to limit the inaccurate or misleading marketing of breast milk substitutes; and “protect, promote and support breast-feeding” was opposed by the US delegation.
- A July Huffington post op ed points out the disparity between African American and Caucasian women when it comes to breastfeeding and the higher burden of disease and death for babies that goes along with low breastfeeding rates.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted that from 2011 to 2015, the percentage of women who initiated breastfeeding was 64.3 percent for African Americans, 81.5 percent for Whites, and 81.9 percent for Hispanics.
- Studies show that even college-educated black women disproportionately give birth to babies who die during infancy from complications related to birth size and weight.
- Nationally, black babies die at more than twice the rate of white babies. And some areas of the country have it worse than others; in prosperous San Francisco, black infants die at a rate of 6 percent compared to a rate of 2.1 percent for white infants.
- A study published in July in the Journal Pediatrics based on a survey of moms in Australia found an association between heavy drinking while breastfeeding and lower cognitive scores in children at ages 6-7 years old
- No association with drinking during pregnancy
- The decrease was observed at age 10 to 11 years.
Breastfeeding Facts
- Only about 36% of infants aged 0-6 months worldwide were exclusively breastfed over the period of 2007-2014.
- optimally breastfed if all children 0-23 months would save 820,000 lives among children under 5 years,
- Breastfeeding rates in the US differ by age, race/ethnicity
- 4% of Black infants are ever breastfed
- 9%) non-Hispanic white infants are ever breastfed
- 6% Hispanic infants are ever breastfed
- Younger mothers (aged 20 to 29 years) are less likely to ever breastfeed (80.4%) than mothers aged 30 years or older (85.3%).4
- 60% of mothers do not breastfeed for as long as they intend to.
Breastfeeding Benefits
- Breast milk is nutritionally balanced for your baby.
- creates a close bond between mother and child.
- breastfeeding is economical—can save approximately $1,500 that would have gone toward infant formula in the first year alone.
- teens and adults who were breastfed less likely to be overweight or obese and less likely to have type 2 diabetes.
- Exclusive breastfeeding can also benefit moms, reducing the risks of breast and ovarian cancer, type II diabetes, and postpartum depression.
- For infants born to HIV-infected mothers, antiretroviral drugs are now available to allow some moms to breastfeed with a significantly reduced risk of HIV transmission.
To improve breastfeeding success
- Leave the guilt behind
- Breastfeeding is learned behavior for moms and babies. If you don’t learn, you don’t know
- Unfortunately, there are many barriers between a mother and her desire to breastfeed (millions of dollars in advertising to make formula feeding seem easy and better, early return to work, separation from baby, too many guests, social stigma to breastfeeding in public etc.
- Uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth and early latching on
- The Golden Hour
- Available help and assistance from a lactation consultant to help with challenges early on
- Decrease guests in the immediate postpartum period
- Support from family and friends to take care of household so new mother can focus on breastfeeding
- Workplace policies that enable moms to continue breastfeeding once back to work (ACA helped by requiring separate spaces for pumping)
- All or none thinking—exclusive breastfeeding is desired but may not be possible for many
- Commit every day to do the best you can
Links
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-seals-allers-breastfeeding_us_5b6084e5e4b0de86f49b47ae
Breastfeeding Photos and Infographics
