Breastfeeding rocks for mom and baby, as healthy nutrients deemed important
By Jennifer Kneuss
July 26, 2011
469
All young mammals, including the human variety, grow and thrive best on their own mothers milk. That fact is once again being proclaimed during the annual World Breastfeeding Week, which is being celebrated worldwide, as well as throughout Ohio, August 1-7.
The Ohio WIC program states that Breastfeeding Rocks! is the motto for this year, as the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) focuses on Takin in to the Streets, an effort to utilize the media and community support to increase the rate of breastfeeding to positively impact the health of both babies and their mothers.
The more our society accepts breastfeeding as the normal, natural way to feed a baby, the healthier and better off we will be as a nation, state and community, said Margaret Weber, breastfeeding coordinator of the Tuscarawas County WIC Program.
At one time, breastfeeding was definitely the cultural norm, and it was an accepted fact that all mothers fed their babies in this way. As the industrial revolution took place, so did the advertising onslaught of companies who hoped to make profits from the biproducts of dairy product production that were of no other use. They did so by manufacturing baby milks, or formulas in cans and promoting them to the medical community and public at large as the modern way to feed infants.
As a result, millions of mothers abandoned breastfeeding and chose to purchase the alternate product for their baby as an inferior, though popular, substitute for mothers milk.
According to the Ohio WIC program, in support of World Breastfeeding Week, Returning our communities back into a breastfeeding-supportive culture will take efforts by educational institutions, hospitals, businesses, and even legal support.
Local mother Paula Connerton is currently breastfeeding her 1-year-old daughter, Jesseanne, just as she did the other three children she and her husband, John, have brought into the world together.
It never occurred to me to feed her any other way, she said. Babies do best when they have their own mamas milk. Its best for her and for me health-wise, and there are so many other great benefits. Why spend thousands of dollars a year on an inferior formula product for my daughter? That doesnt make any sense. Plus, it creates a wonderful bond between us, and its so easy.
According to Ohio WIC, solutions to turning the tide back to embracing breastfeeding as the cultural norm are varied. One is to allow mothers to feel comfortable nursing in public, including placement of the Nursing Babies are Welcome Here universal sign in store windows. Community hospitals should implement the adoption of the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding, as promoted by the World Health Organization, including the step that no longer allows formula gifts to new mothers, which instills seeds of doubt about their ability to make enough milk to breastfeed exclusively. Human lactation should be integrated into educational curriculum age-appropriately, presenting it as the norm that it is, and books, TV and movies can show breastfeeding as a normal part of family life.
Currently, websites, Facebook, and even Twitter are being utilized to offer support for nursing mothers. La Leche League International (http://www.llli.org), which has been helping breastfeeding mothers for more than 50 years, is accessed by mothers worldwide, and a local support group is available in Tuscarawas County at 330-407-3680.
To support breastfeeding mothers and babies, the Breastfeeding Coalition of Tuscarawas County will provide breastfeeding gift bags containing breastfeeding how-to information, baby blankets, sample milk storage bags and nursing pads to breastfeeding mothers who deliver at Union Hospital during August.
Said Weber, In light of the monetary and life-saving benefits of breastfeeding, all elements of the community must cooperate and support breastfeeding. Ultimately, our whole society benefits from having healthier mothers, babies and children when breastfeeding is promoted, protected, and supported.
For more information on World Breastfeeding Week, breastfeeding, or the local coalition to support it, contact Weber at the Tuscarawas County WIC Program, 330-343-5555.
