LACTNET Archives

Lactation Information and Discussion

LACTNET@COMMUNITY.LSOFT.COM

Options: Use Forum View

Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Rachel Myr <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 10 Aug 2010 13:19:54 -0400
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (25 lines)
Anna-Pia Häggkvist (the nurse sitting with the mother of the very premature baby in the video 'Breast is Best') has had an article published in 'Public Health Nutrition' on duration of exclusive and partial breastfeeding.  
Prevalence of breast-feeding in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study and health service-related correlates of
cessation of full breast-feeding
Anna-Pia Häggkvist, Anne Lise Brantsæter, Andrej M Grjibovski,
Elisabet Helsing, Helle Margrete Meltzer and Margaretha Haugen

It's been reported on in the national news as 'Norwegian mothers don't breastfeed enough'.  Stupid spin to put on it, since what the article says is 'CS, supplementation in hospital, and early BF problems all predispose to shorter duration of exclusive breastfeeding and of any breastfeeding'.  (It would have been more on target to say 'Questionable care and lack of support sabotages breastfeeding on a large scale'.)   Anna-Pia and her co-authors used data from a large cohort study on mothers and children; it seems that the percentage of Norwegian children currently being exclusively breastfed at six months is two percent.  Sobering, indeed, but I have long suspected that the numbers we have been quoting were extremely optimistic.  Incredibly, we do not have national or local systems for collecting data on incidence and duration of breastfeeding, despite having nearly 100% participation in the public well-child care system, so collecting the data would be a snap.   And close to 100% of mothers giving birth in Norway initiate breastfeeding, as they have done as long as anyone has been keeping records, for about a century and a half.
The cohort study collected data from women who were willing to fill out multiple long questionnaires starting in pregnancy and going through the first several years of their child's life.  Generalizing grossly I will say that these are the women in the demographic who likely breastfeed more than women who might be daunted by the questionnaires or might not want to tell the public health institute about their smoking or dietary habits, and still only 2 percent were exclusively breastfeeding at six months.   In the study sample nearly one third of these breastfed babies were given something other than breastmilk during their stay in hospital after birth.   

Today the head of Save the Children in Norway was interviewed on the news about the relief efforts they are providing to the areas of Pakistan where thirteen million people, one third of them children, are seriously affected by floods.  Save the Children tries to re-unite children with parents, establishes safe places for children to be, and provides safe food for older children and mothers, as well as simple equipment for treating water to make it fit to drink.  She said that children are especially vulnerable to water-borne infections that cause life-threatening diarrhea, 'except breastfed babies, who are protected'.   In Norway we almost never hear that there is a need for breastmilk substitutes to be provided in disaster relief, it is also rare to hear a relief worker specifically mention breastfeeding as a safety mechanism.  

Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome

ATOM RSS1 RSS2