Betsy Riedel posted:

>To be perfectly honest, I think that breastfeeding mothers would already
>know that and I am not at all surprised that a man would not include that
>in his emergency preparedness presentation. He was merely covering all of
>his bases. The concept of berastfeeding really had absolutely nothing to
>do with his presentation.
>
>Relactation is not going to work in the event of an emergency and it
>certainly is not going to be instantaneous enough to be beneficial in an
>emergency situation.

When an emergency overtakes a population, odds are there will be newborns, 
young infants, and recently weaned children among those affected. As long 
as the mothers have survived relatively unscathed and have not been 
separated from their children, beginning breastfeeding or relactating is 
most certainly an option.

Yes, formula may be needed as the process gets started; however, the sooner 
it starts, the better. It may not be possible to know how long an emergency 
situation will last. How many moms headed to the N.O. Convention Center 
thinking it would only be for a day or two? How many others were stranded 
and thought rescue would come at any moment?

Further, I don't think there should be any assumption in an emergency of 
what breastfeeding mothers know. Consider the myths that are rampant out 
there. "Stress dries up a mother's milk" and "A mother lacking food for 
herself cannot produce milk for her baby" are common ones. How many moms 
have weaned their children due to erroneous information?

Following the Katrina disaster, LLL, the U.S. Breastfeeding Committee, the 
Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, and others disseminated a lot of 
information, including appeals to emergency responders and medical 
personnel to support and encourage breastfeeding in this and other 
emergency situations. I apologize if others have already posted the 
following links. (I don't mean to be repetitive. I'm just on digest and I 
haven't seen them yet.)

WHO's guideline for feeding infants and young children in an emergency: 
<http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2004/9241546069.pdf>

Emergency Nutrition Network
<http://www.ennonline.net>

UNICEF website on emergencies and nutrition
<http://www.unicef.org/nutrition/index_emergencies.html>

International Lactation Consultant Association
<http://www.ilca.org/katrina/InfantFeeding-EmergPP.pdf>

La Leche League International
<http://www.lalecheleague.org/emergency.html>

Wellstart International
<http://www.wellstart.org/Infant_feeding_emergency.pdf>

Finally, a search of the Lactnet archives, especially in the weeks 
following Katrina, will have a lot of information.

I'm glad Renee had the gumption to get up, say her piece, and say it 
nicely. (Yeah, Renee!) Lack of breastfeeding knowledge among emergency 
planners and responders can be a significant impediment to serving mothers 
and their children in emergencies. They need to know.

regards,
Julia


Julia R. Barrett
Freelance Science Writer & Editor
Mom to Sean (5) and Kira (2)
Madison, Wisconsin

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html