Motherhood in its early stages can bring exhaustion, excitement, confusion, and gratification. Add breastfeeding to it, and all can become a bit too overwhelming for some, but those who believe in breastfeeding, should be encouraged, and are, rightfully, honored this week every year.
World Breastfeeding Week, an annual celebration from Augusts 1 to 7, is celebrating the art of breastfeeding this week with a new campaign: “Talk to me! Breastfeeding – a 3D Experience.”
Breastfeeding is considered to be the most important nutritional and emotional portion in every infant’s life. Mothers are advised to breastfeed their infants exclusively for 6 months and give appropriate complimentary foods, and continue breastfeeding their baby until they are 2 years old. Every newborn should be breastfed as this would provide the best nutrition, the greatest infection protection, the most illness prevention, and the greatest food security and psychological protection for the infant.
Though, most countries in the world have a liberal outlook towards public breastfeeding, but some religious exceptions might be there. In fact, some countries have even passed a law about punishing anyone who denies a nursing mother her right, in public. Also, it’s definitely not easy for a working mother to continue breastfeeding while they return to work when the infants are just 3-4 months old. They have to plan very carefully on when and how to pump and store the breastmilk during the hours they are working. The Affordable Care Act enacted last year will help in this endeavor.
According to Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin, “The law requires employers to provide time and a safe space for women employees who want to express their milk. It also requires health plans to offer certain preventative services without cost-sharing requirements, including counseling and support for mothers who want to breastfeed and for nursing mothers.”
Breastfeeding helps protect babies and mothers from many significant health risks, including childhood obesity and breast and ovarian cancers in mothers. Yet most hospitals in the United States fail to adequately support the practice, according to a new report from the CDC, published in the August edition of the CDC’s monthly newsletter Vital Signs. It also states that less than 4% of hospitals follow at least 9 of the 10 breastfeeding practices recommended by the World Health Organization/UNICEF Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, a program endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The Baby-Friendly 10 Steps to Successful Breastfeeding
#1. Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff.
#2. Train all health care staff in skills necessary to implement this policy.
#3. Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding.
#4. Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within 1 hour of birth.
#5. Show mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation, even if they are separated from their infants.
#6. Give newborn infants no food or drink other than breast milk, unless medically indicated.
#7. Practice “rooming in”— allow mothers and infants to remain together 24 hours a day.
#8. Encourage breastfeeding on demand.
#9. Give no pacifiers or artificial nipples to breastfeeding infants.
#10. Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or clinic.
SOURCE: www.babyfriendlyusa.org
Implementing changes within hospitals to ensure that all of these practices are supported will take a lot of effort. Some hospitals are worried about what such changes will cost. But with the protective health benefits of breastfeeding, short-term costs will likely be offset by long-term savings; for example, children who breastfeed will be less likely to come back to the hospital.
Give your baby the best start in life: breastfeed.
