News Release
For Immediate Release Contact: Sara T. Pappa, Public Information
July 31, 2007 (937) 374-5662 or toll-free at 1(866) 858-3588
Greene County Combined Health District
Celebrates World Breastfeeding Week
(Xenia, OH) August 1-7, 2007 is World Breastfeeding Week and marks the beginning of Breastfeeding Awareness Month in Ohio. This year’s theme, Breastfeeding: The Crucial First Steps, focuses on research-based policies and practices that have been shown to result in breastfeeding success. These policies and practices include: skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby right after birth, 24-hour rooming in, initiating breastfeeding within the first hour of life and then on demand, not giving any other food or drink to a breastfed baby unless medially indicated, not giving a breastfed baby a pacifier until the mother’s milk supply is established—usually around 3-4 weeks, access to good hospital-grade pumps if mother and baby must be separated, no sample formula provided “just in case”, and referral to support services upon hospital discharge. Breastfeeding Awareness Month offers the Greene County WIC Program the opportunity to teach mothers and their families the first crucial steps to breastfeeding success. The Greene County Combined Health District congratulates those hospitals that have instituted the policies and practices that allow mothers who choose to breastfeed to be successful.
According to Dr. Alvin D. Jackson, Director, Ohio Department of Health (ODH), mothers’ milk enhances the growth, development and well-being of infants by providing the best possible nutrition and protection against specific infections and allergies and these benefits are strongest when exclusive breastfeeding is practiced from birth and for the first six months of life.
Compelling research has shown that skin-to-skin contact right after birth enhances bonding and successful breastfeeding. Breastfeeding within an hour of birth allows baby to try nursing when she is still alert from her birth experience. Studies show that early introduction to bottles and pacifiers cause some babies to refuse the breast and can interrupt the mother’s growing milk supply. Twenty-four hour rooming in allows mother to learn her baby’s hunger cues and decreases the chance that a bottle of formula will be given to the breastfed infant. A recent study has shown that new mothers have an average of 50 interruptions a night even without the baby in her room. Placing her baby in the nursery in order to get some “rest” does not stop those other interruptions. For mothers and babies who cannot nurse right after delivery, the use of a hospital-grade pump designed to initiate a milk supply will be needed. This type of pump may be necessary until the baby has learned to latch on. Studies have
shown repeatedly that formula samples offered to breastfeeding mothers “just in case” lead to lactation failure. Offering sample formula sends the message that the hospital or other health care program does not believe that mother can make enough milk for her baby. The germ of doubt can become self-fulfilling. Instead, hospitals should offer or refer mothers and their families to breastfeeding support services upon discharge. For more information about and support references for these policies and practices, please visit www.babyfriendlyusa.org and http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/research/index.htm.
“Once the decision to breastfeed has been made, we must provide a supportive environment from birth to encourage the initiation and continuation of breastfeeding. Ultimately, our whole society will benefit from having healthier mothers, babies, and children,” said Mark McDonnell, Greene County Health Commissioner.
FOR MORE INFORMATION about breastfeeding in Greene County, please call the Greene County Combined Health District WIC Program at 374-5641 or toll-free at 866-858-3588, or the “Help Me Grow” Helpline at 1-800-755-GROW.
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