Surgeon General's Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding!

I just read the Call to Action to support breastfeeding and was very impressed! The Surgeon General launched it in January of this year (I guess I am way behind the times!) and I thought I would share some of the main points.

I find it very interesting and disheartening that 75% of mothers start off breastfeeding in the hospital, yet only 13% of babies actually end up being exclusively breastfed. I don't think it's because mothers can't breastfeed, rather, I think society has set them up to fail. Formula companies advertise rampantly and unethically, mother's are not allowed the proper and decent amount of time to be home from work for bonding with and breastfeeding their babies, they don't know where to look for support, and on top of that, they are often being told by peers or the media how hard breastfeeding is and that maybe they just can't do it. In the face of difficulty and disappointment, it's very hard not to give in to the message that breastfeeding isn't for everyone. In fact, it is. It is very very rare that a woman truly cannot breastfeed, and I hope this Call to Action makes great strides in helping all the mothers who CAN!

The notice starts off with a summary of the various benefits breastfeeding offers. I am going to paraphrase and quote below.

I love this line:

"Breast milk is uniquely suited to the human infant’s nutritional needs and is a live substance with unparalleled immunological and anti-inflammatory properties that protect against a host of illnesses and diseases for both mothers and children." (emphasis mine)

Risks associated with NOT breastfeeding:

• Increase in common childhood infections
• 100% (!) increase in acute ear infection occurrence
• Increase in the following:
• Lower respiratory infections
• Leukemia
• Hospitalization due to respiratory disease
• 56% increase in SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome)
• Type 2 Diabetes
• Asthma
• Childhood Obesity
• Eczema
• Vomiting and diarrhea
• Breast cancer in mom
• Ovarian cancer in mom

Positive Effects of Breastfeeding 

Psychological

• Increased bonding and closeness between mother and baby
• Lower incidence of postpartum depression

Economic

• Breastfeeding saves between $1,200-$1,500 per year on formula costs. (And that was based on an estimate done 10 years ago...the prices have surely increased majorly since then!)
• Fewer co-pays, hospital bills, and other medical costs due to better health of baby
• Less sick time off from work
• If 90% of mothers exclusively breastfed for 6 months, it would save the US $13 BILLION annually!!

Environmental

• Breast milk is very eco-friendly and renewable (chuckle... well yeah!!)
• Breast milk requires no cans, no packaging, no manufacturing waste, no gas to get it to the grocery store

The Call to Action later addresses the barriers breastfeeding in the US. 
These include:

• Lack of knowledge about the benefits of breastfeeding and the risks of not breastfeeding
• Lack of knowledge about how to actually accomplish breastfeeding (mechanics)
• Lack of access to mentors or role models
• Perceived inconvenience of breastfeeding ("I'll have to give up too much to breastfeed")
• Social norm of bottle feeding
• Formula companies unethical advertising
• Poor family and social support 
• Embarrassment over breastfeeding in public
• Lactation 'problems' such as sore nipples, engorgement, mastitis, leaking milk etc. 
• Employment and child care - having to return to work soon after baby is born
• Barriers related to health services - health professionals not being adequately trained to support breastfeeding

The Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding 

1. Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff. 
2. Train all health care staff in skills necessary to implement this policy. 
3. Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding. 
4. Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth. 
5. Show mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation, even if they are separated from their infants. 
6. Give newborn infants no food or drink other than breastmilk, unless medically indicated. 
7. Practice “rooming in”—allow mothers and infants to remain together 24 hours a day. 
8. Encourage breastfeeding on demand. 
9. Give no pacifiers or artificial nipples to breastfeeding infants. 
10. Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or clinic. —Baby-Friendly USA 

A Call to Action:

1. Give mother's the support they need to breastfeed their babies
2. Develop programs to teach fathers and grandmothers about breastfeeding
3. Strengthen programs that provide mother to mother support and peer counseling
4. Use community based programs to support and promote breastfeeding
5. Create a national campaign to promote breastfeeding

6. Ensure that the marketing of infant formula is conducted in a way that minimizes its negative impacts on exclusive breastfeeding

7. Ensure that maternity care practices throughout the US are fully supportive of breastfeeding

8. Develop systems to guarantee continuity of skilled support for lactation between hospitals and health care settings in the community.
9. Provide education and training in breastfeeding for all health professionals who care for women and children.
10. Include basic support for breastfeeding as a standard of care for midwives, obstetricians, family physicians, nurse practitioners, and pediatricians.
11. Ensure access to services provided by International Board Certified Lactation Consultants.
12. Identify and address obstacles to greater availability of safe banked donor milk for fragile infants.
13. Work towards establishing paid maternity leave for all employed mothers.
14. Ensure that employers establish and maintain comprehensive, high quality lactation support programs for their employees.
15. Expands the use of programs in the workplace that allow lactating mothers to have direct access to their babies.
16. Ensure that all child care providers accommodate the needs of breastfeeding mothers and infants.
17. Increase funding of high-quality research on breastfeeding.
18. Strengthen existing capacity and develop future capacity for conducting research on breastfeeding.
19. Develop a national monitoring system to improve the tracking of breastfeeding rates as well as the policies and environmental factors that affect breastfeeding. 
20. Improve national leadership on the promotion and support of breastfeeding.

To read the entire Call to Action including implementation steps and other things not covered here, see the report here. 


To see the fact sheet about the report, go here. 


And here is the main web page with resources for mothers, employers, and additional resources at the bottom. 

I am very excited and optimistic about this call to action! I have already seen implementation of it around my community and am very hopeful that it will help mothers and babies have successful breastfeeding relationships across the US!