Early support vital for success in breastfeeding

 

Most women understand the benefits of breastfeeding their infants, but there are physical and emotional roadblocks that can make it a challenge for moms. During the first weeks of a baby's life it is vital for mom to be able to focus on caring for herself and nursing her infant. "One of the biggest issues for new moms is exhaustion," said Kimi Suh, MD, family medicine physician at Loyola University Health System and assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. "Moms are already sore and tired from being post-partum and it can be exhausting and difficult to feed the baby on demand at all hours." Breastfeeding is a learning process for both mom and baby and requires patience and practice. While in the hospital, moms should take advantage of resources such as lactation consultants who are readily available to assist with establishing good breastfeeding practices and offer advice on common problems, such as trouble latching on. "I often tell my new moms don't wait to ask for help. Getting the right latch is vital and can be difficult. Having someone with experience there to guide you can make all the difference," said Suh. Though everyone is excited to meet the newest arrival, the early days after delivery are extremely important for a mom and baby who are breastfeeding. Moms need to be able to practice feeding and not worry about anything else, including visitors. "Visitors can wait. Use these early days to become confident in breastfeeding. While in the hospital use the time to practice nursing and get some help from experts to feel comfortable without worrying about privacy," said Suh. According to Suh one of the most important components for a breastfeeding mom is a strong support team. Many people may be disappointed that mom is breastfeeding because they are hoping to have the fun of feeding the baby with a bottle themselves, but there are a lot of other important ways friends and loved ones can be a part of caring for the baby while supporting mom. Suh suggests supporters: • Get up with mom in the middle of the night and see how to be of help or just to keep her company • Change diapers • Keep breastfeeding mom's water glass full • Prepare a snack or a meal she can eat while feeding the baby • Do chores such as laundry, cleaning the house or grocery shopping • If there are other children help, keep them happy and busy "Emotional support is extremely important to help a mom breastfeed successfully. Because they are the only ones who can provide the baby with nutrition, moms can feel solely responsible if the baby is upset or something isn't going right. They can get frustrated and feel they are doing something wrong, and even feel like they should give up on breastfeeding. It's important to remind mom what a great job she's doing," Suh said. Too often moms are worried about their weight or feel like they have to immediately jump into being the primary caretaker. Suh says these first few weeks need to be about making mom as happy and comfortable as possible. "There may not be a lot of sleep, but if mom wants chocolate, mom can have chocolate," said Suh. "Keeping mom less stressed not only helps her emotional health, but also improves the quality and quantity of the milk she produces. Breastfeeding moms need to take it one day at a time. If something doesn't seem right, she should try not to get stressed out. Instead, she can reach out to her medical provider or lactation consultant, who is there to support her."

Moms who choose to breastfeed older babies motivated by health, nutrition benefits

 

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Mothers who decide to breastfeed their children beyond 1 year of age consider their child's physical and social development to be most important, while the advice of health care professionals, family and friends are least important, according to a study to be presented Monday, Oct. 13 at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference & Exhibition in San Diego.

To find out why some moms choose to continue nursing after a child's first birthday, researchers surveyed more than 50,000 U.S. women ages 18-50.

"The three most important reasons that mothers gave for extended nursing were the nutritional benefits of breast milk, the other health benefits of breast milk and the opportunity to build a stronger social bond with their baby," said principal investigator Alexis Tchaconas, research assistant, developmental and behavioral pediatrics at the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York.

The investigators designed an online survey that asked mothers to rank 15 factors related to extended breastfeeding as "very important," "important," "somewhat important" or "not important." Surveys were sent to mothers via email lists from La Leche League, an international breastfeeding support organization, as well as Facebook groups and online chat rooms dedicated to breastfeeding support.

Besides health benefits and bonding with their child, other top factors that influenced mothers to breastfeed beyond one year included enjoyment, support from spouse or partner, La Leche League support and not having to pay for formula.

"Although most women felt comfortable discussing their decision to nurse their baby beyond 1 year of age with their child's pediatrician and with their own health care providers, the recommendations of these health care professionals were not identified as being important in terms of the mother's decision to extend nursing," said senior investigator Andrew Adesman, MD, FAAP, chief of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children's Medical Center of New York.

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Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by American Academy of Pediatrics. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

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Advancing Breastfeeding: The Power of the Network

 

Mariam Claeson, Ruth Landy

March 13, 2014

Chinese celebrity Ma Yili has over 50 million social media fans, and now she’s using her influence to promote breastfeeding in her home country, where only 28 percent of babies are exclusively breastfed. The “10m2 of Love” campaign Ma is publicizing includes a mobile app to help Chinese women locate and use public breastfeeding spaces. 

From China to Pakistan, Venezuela and Viet Nam, countries are experimenting with new approaches to promote a life saving, natural practice under threat in the modern world.

At the global level, however, the breastfeeding community has yet to coalesce as an effective network. Today it’s in search of the strong leadership, unified agenda and contemporary message required to spark a social movement for breastfeeding in the 21^st century. 

Those are the findings of a recent UNICEF study seeking to understand why funding and political commitment for breastfeeding remains low, despite compelling evidence of its benefits.

Sound like a wonkish question? Try answering it, and you’ll soon be grappling with life or death matters.

No one has thought harder about generating political attention for global health than professor and researcher Jeremy Shiffman. His special interest: why some issues receive priority while others are neglected. When UNICEF needed to make sense of the rich feedback it received from breastfeeding stakeholders around the world, it turned to his framework.

Shiffman’s case studies have attracted enormous interest not only because he’s a pioneer in an emerging field. His research also taps into the universal quest by advocates to discover a “secret sauce” – a formula – which could reliably generate visibility, funding and policy change. Shiffman’s latest work focuses on the dynamic interaction of three elements that determine why some global health networks flourish while others stagnate. It’s a valuable checklist for those seeking insight on this vital question:

Network Who are the actors and do they agree on solutions to the problem? Does the network have strong leadership, guiding institutions and a common agenda? Is the issue framed in a manner that resonates with political leaders? Are civil society organizations mobilized behind the cause?

Policy environment Can the network count on influential allies? Is the global policy context favorable to the issue? Does it face opposition and - if yes – what are the implications? Are there sufficient resources for programs? Is the network aligned behind measurable targets?

Issue characteristics How severe is the problem? Which populations are affected? Does the network have effective interventions for addressing it, and are they easily measured?

UNICEF’s study applied Shiffman’s categories to analyze responses such as these:

“Those of us who care about infant and young child feeding need to be together. We cannot afford disjointed messaging or disagreement. We need to focus on the bigger picture.”

“Leadership is the number one factor in building political and donor support. When James Grant took on the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative, that leadership was transformative.”

“We need to generate evidence breastfeeding practices can be improved at large scale within a reasonable time frame, because that creates excitement it can be done. You can only achieve scale if you simplify and focus.”

UNICEF is accountable with WHO for global progress on infant and young child feeding and it’s taking the study’s findings seriously. We’re encouraged UNICEF and partners are now working to put the report’s recommendations into action. To raise breastfeeding on the worldwide agenda, the strategy focuses on mobilizing commitment for WHO’s 2025 global nutrition target. This requires coordinated action to support all women to breastfeed from the first hour after birth till their child reaches two.

Only a high-performing network can do so.

A great opportunity lies ahead when the world adopts the first global roadmap to reduce newborn deaths. It’s also a test.

The first weeks and months after birth are the most perilous for infants in low-income settings. Breastfeeding is the closest there is to a ‘silver bullet’ protecting them from malnutrition and death.

Will the newborn network invite breastfeeding stakeholders to the table, to join forces toward a common goal? Will all partners consulted by UNICEF commit to the shared strategy?

You can influence the debate by commenting below. We also invite you to share on Twitter with a message such as the one below. Your voice matters.

Advancing #breastfeeding - the power of the network