Health Ministry reveals first-ever National Breastfeeding Survey
By Judy Siegel


JERUSALEM (December 31) - The first-ever National Breastfeeding Survey has
given the Health Ministry much to swallow.

The poll of 1,200 new mothers - Jews and Arabs - around the country shows
that new mothers want to breastfeed their babies, but hospitals and family
health centers are not "baby friendly" enough. Also, public facilities for
nursing are too few, and the economic situation will not easily allow longer
maternity leaves, Health Ministry nutrition department head Dr. Dorit
Nitzan-Kalusky said yesterday.

Nitzan-Kalusky, who conducted the study with ministry colleagues Prof. Yona
Amitai and Prof. Manfred Green, said 86 percent of all new mothers (83% of
the Jewish women and 90% of the Arab women) started breastfeeding their baby
after delivery. But the average amount of time they continued to breastfeed
exclusively (without formula or other supplements of liquids or solids) was
relatively low: 13 weeks among the Jews and 22 weeks among the Arabs. The
average breastfeeding time was 14.6 weeks; working women get 12 weeks of
maternity leave.

"I'm pleased that so many want to breastfeed, and the rate is significantly
higher than in the US, but although we don't have statistics from decades
ago, I think the rate is still lower now than years ago," Nitzan-Kalusky
said.

Among Jewish women, the higher the level of their education, the more likely
they were to breastfeed; among Arabs the trend was the opposite. The average
time women breastfed (with or without giving supplementary food) was 26
weeks among Jewish women and 37 weeks among Arab women.

Haredi or Orthodox Jewish women and religiously observant Arab women were
much more likely to breastfeed and to do so longer than secular or
religiously "traditional" women.

Three-quarters of the Jewish women and 27% of the Arab women worked outside
the home full or part time before giving birth, but this figure dropped to
60% and 20%, respectively, after the end of maternity leave.

Nitzan-Kalusky has called on hospitals to make their obstetrics departments
"baby friendly" with rooming in (mothers and babies always together) to
promote breastfeeding only for those who want it. Many hospitals give
formula and pacifiers without asking the mother for permission. In addition,
strong lobbying in the Knesset by infant formula companies has so far
prevented efforts to bar advertising of their products, which discourages
new mothers from breastfeeding. Formula companies are allowed by some
hospitals to distribute gifts of their products to new mothers as
advertising - while supplying free formula to hospitals that save on
purchases.

She said family health (tipat halav) centers should do more to encourage
breastfeeding and counsel women who are having problems nursing.

The nutrition department is initiating educational and other programs to
promote breastfeeding, Nitzan-Kalusky said.

Of the women surveyed, 88% said breastfeeding saved money, and 74% said
returning to work interfered with breastfeeding. Some 51% mistakenly thought
that when a nursing baby cries, it "means his mother doesn't have enough
milk," and only 20% thought that giving a pacifier interferes with the
baby's desire to breastfeed.

Esther Grunis, IBCLC
Lis Maternity Hospital
Tel Aviv, Israel
http://community.walla.co.il/breastfeeding

fighting the fight every day!!
Healthy, happy and peaceful New Year to all!!

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