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Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
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Fri, 12 May 2006 14:37:49 EDT
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I have been following the discussion on helping mothers want to breastfeed  
their baby. Millions of dollars have been poured into breastfeeding promotion  
programs using numerous approaches. The National Breastfeeding Awareness  
Campaign was supposed to use a risk based approach describing the health  outcomes 
of not breastfeeding. Approaching breastfeeding as free, healthy, as a  
mechanism for close attachment, as a means to lose weight, as a money saver  for 
the health care system, as a protection for mothers against numerous  
conditions, etc, still fails to reach many women. 
 
I just read an article in the May 2006 supplement to Pediatrics written by  a 
pediatrician in Biloxi, Mississippi detailing what it was like to provide  
pediatric care following hurricane Katrina. He states, "Because safe drinking  
water to mix with the formula would be a long time coming, it was truly an  
optimum time to discharge all infants on breast milk. Even after lengthy  
discussions of the benefits of breastfeeding, especially now, mothers of the  first 3 
newborns chose to use formula. Even in a natural disaster with no  running 
water, some moms still will not be motivated to breastfeed. So we  discharged 
these infants with formula and disposable nipples." He goes on to  describe how 
he visited families in apartment buildings, finding dozens of  mothers feeding 
infants bottled water because that's all that was  available.
 
One wonders what it will take to get the message across regarding  
breastfeeding. Even in the face of a natural disaster with unknown means of  providing 
food for their infants, mothers still refuse to breastfeed. How  sad.
 
Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC
Weston, MA

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