August is National Breastfeeding Month: Ways to Show Your Support
By Barbara “Basia” Szajda, MD, IBCLC (She/her pronouns)
Pediatrician, Wheeler Family Health & Wellness Center, Hartford
NOTE: This article appeared in the August 5 issue of the Northend Agent's. Resources are included at the end of this article, and additional information is available here.
August is National Breastfeeding Month, a time to consider the positive impact of breastfeeding and ensure that families who choose this practice have the support they need to reach their goals. You can play a role by helping breastfeeding parents within your family, at the workplace, in public locations, and health care settings. It starts by understanding some of the common issues and barriers, and the meaningful ways in which you can contribute.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Breastfeeding Report Card (2018) and the United States Breastfeeding Committee, while 83 percent of infants in the United States receive breast milk at birth, only about 25 percent are still exclusively breastfed at six months of age. There are many reasons why parents stop breastfeeding early, or choose not to breastfeed at all, including the lack of access to supportive breastfeeding policies and environments.
Below are some ideas for how you can support breastfeeding/chestfeeding parents.
Actively help parents to reach their goals. Learn more about the breastfeeding goals of your partner, family members and friends, and identify the ways in which you can assist. Some examples might include picking up chores like cooking, cleaning, or taking care of older children, washing pumping parts, or holding the baby skin-to-skin to help soothe them. Breastfeeding can be hard, especially at the beginning. Provide ongoing encouragement and acknowledge a parent’s struggles, commitment, and progress.
Be a sounding board and advocate by sticking up for parents when others make unsupportive comments. Help parents to identify resources for physical issues such as pain. Take the time to listen to parents’ concerns and provide a safe space where they can express their feelings, doubts, frustrations, as well as celebrate successes, especially now. While the COVID-19 crisis makes it harder for families to build and maintain community with other families with infants, reaching out to friends by phone, connecting to other families on social media, and encouraging parents to attend online breastfeeding meetings can be helpful.
Support breastfeeding/chestfeeding parents in the workplace and beyond. Breastfeeding and chestfeeding in the workplace are protected rights. According to the Connecticut Breastfeeding Coalition, research shows that employees return to work sooner, take fewer sick days, and have lower health care costs when they are supported in breastfeeding. If you are an employer or employee who would like to know more about fostering an environment of support, visit: Breastfeedingct.org.
Always keep health in mind. By supporting breastfeeding/chestfeeding parents, you are helping to promote the overall health of parent and baby. Cells, hormones, and antibodies in breast milk help to protect babies from illness. This protection is unique and changes every day to meet a baby’s growing needs. Research shows that breastfed babies have lower risks of asthma, childhood obesity, leukemia, ear infections, eczema, lower respiratory infections, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), Type 2 diabetes, and more. Breastfeeding also fosters a mother's health and healing following childbirth, leading to a lower risk of some heath issues, including Type 2 diabetes, certain types of breast cancer, and ovarian cancer.
The American Academy of Pediatrics reaffirms its recommendation of exclusive breastfeeding for about six months, followed by continued breastfeeding as complementary foods are introduced, with continuation of breastfeeding for one year or longer as mutually desired by mother/lactating parent and infant. The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding for two years and as long as mutually desired.
This month and going forward, consider how you can support breastfeeding/chestfeeding parents. If you are an expectant parent, or know parents and families who need care, OB-GYN and pediatric in-person and telehealth services are offered through Wheeler’s Family Health & Wellness Center at 43 Woodland Street in Hartford. New pediatric patients are being accepted, and medical visits are offered in Spanish, Polish, and English. Breastfeeding observation is offered as part of the initial evaluation, as well as follow-up visits to monitor baby’s improvement in breastfeeding skills, weight gain and feeding process, and support for the return to the workplace.
For information, or to make an appointment, call Wheeler’s Navigation Center at 888.793.3500.
Benefits of Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding – Application to be a Breastfeeding-friendly Employer
Breastfeeding in Public – Connecticut Laws
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Breastfeeding Data and Report Card
La Leche League
Women, Infants and Children
Zipmilk.org
