From the Jakarta Post

Mothers lured back to breast-feeding 
Tuesday, December 23, 2008 
A show of hands -- holding roses -- shot up as soon as the question, "Do you know how long a mother should feed her baby only breast milk?" was asked.

Three mothers from the white rose team were given the chance to answer, and got it right: six months. Their supporters -- friends who temporarily take care of the competitors' babies -- cheered loudly. 

The quiz was soon followed by a breast-feeding competition featuring 25 young mothers, who were given marks by a jury for their breast-feeding techniques. 

The event, held by the Kelapa Gading community health centers (puskesmas) in North Jakarta, the municipal health agency and the NGO Mercy Corps, was aimed at raising public awareness of breast-feeding and its benefits, during the commemoration of Mother's Day on Monday. 

"Breast-feeding is not a recommendation, but the right of every mother and baby. We are here to remind the entire family of that -- not just the mothers," Fransiska Mardiananingsih, Mercy Corps program manager, told The Jakarta Post. 

Indonesia is targeting that by 2010, four out of five mothers will breast-feed their babies for six months. In 2003, that figure was only two out of five, and has decreased over the years. 

Karliti was one of the few mothers doing so, adding she was happy with the results. 

"My baby never falls sick," she said. "Unlike many other babies, she doesn't even get diarrhea. Breast milk also makes us closer because I have to bring her with me everywhere." 

She said she was first advised about breast-feeding by a nurse at a health service post (posyandu), who gave her lots of pamphlets on the subject to read. She decided to give it a shot. 

All puskesmas in North Jakarta have at least one breast-feeding counselor, Fransiska said. They have also formed support groups to let new mothers support each other emotionally. 

To boost its campaign, the North Jakarta administration is holding a competition between health centers and hospitals in the municipality to implement the necessary policies to encourage breast-feeding. The winning center will get the chance to send a representative to Europe next year for a comparative study. 

"Countries in western Europe have extensive experience in encouraging breast-feeding. This will be good exposure for our health workers, who will in turn impart their knowledge to other health workers," Fransiska said. 

"This is a voluntary competition. So far, 50 hospitals and health centers out of the total 150 have registered for it." -- JP/Mariani Dewi 

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

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