Dear Breastfeeding Experts,
I would like be able to make this statement in a
public health policy paper: "Even in the
developed world, there is no intervention as
powerful for raising her family's health and
wellbeing as supporting a mother to breastfeed."
First of all, is it true? I mean, what if we
could do something ELSE, such as raise the family
from poverty to median income. Would
breastfeeding all the kids for years have a more
or less powerful effect than this would -- on
health etc?
And, is there yet ANOTHER distinct intervention,
that comes even close to the salubrious effects
of supporting breastfeeding, or alleviating
poverty? I would think that things like "vastly
improving diet", "drug abuse treatment",
"providing full health care", would help, but not
as much.
A few years ago, I looked at the dozen published
studies on the cost of not breastfeeding. The
median total cost was $400 per child (range $135
- $1300), but note that none of these studies
took ALL costs into consideration (dr's visits,
hospitalizations, sick days, special ed,
additional births, etc. or even braces,
eyeglasses, psychotherapy, etc.), so the real
figure is bound to be higher. In any case, cost
is only one portion of a comprehensive tally of
the power of breastfeeding.
Has anyone similarly compared the measurable
value of breastfeeding support to other
interventions? Do you have any references to
suggest to me?
Thank you!
Tina
»@«*´`*»@«*´`*»@«*´`*´¯`·.¸¸ ¸¸.·´¯`*´`*»@«*´`*»@«*´`*»@«
Tina Kimmel, MSW, MPH
PhD Program, UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare
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