Breastfeeding

I chose breastfeeding as a public health issue that is meaningful to me. I breastfed both of my sons. I knew I wanted to breastfeed and I had a good support system that helped me during the first few weeks. My sisters gave me advice. The nurses who came in to my room, helped me, also.  I belonged to a moms group at the hospital and we met every Friday, I was able to talk to other moms who were breastfeeding. The biggest support was my husband. I had a hard time with my recovery from my first c-section. I was exhausted from a baby not sleeping at night. I remember one night, during the first week home, I was beyond exhausted, my baby was hungry, my husband knew how much I wanted to breastfeed and he said to just sleep and he will put our baby to my breast and he will make sure he is nursing. I feel like I had a great deal of support.

According to,  http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/data/reportcard.htmHigh breastfeeding initiation rates show that most mothers in the United States want to breastfeed and are trying to do so. 3 out of 4 mothers start out breastfeeding.  However, even from the very start, mothers may not be getting the breastfeeding support they need.  Low breastfeeding rates at 3, 6, and 12 months illustrate that mothers continue to face multiple barriers to breastfeeding. One of the barriers is lack of support.

I researched breastfeeding in India. I found it very interesting to find out that many still feed goat milk to their babies.  Every year, almost two million Indian children die before their fifth birthday, most of them from preventable causes. UNICEF estimates that only about 46 per cent of infants in India are exclusively breastfed – a practice which builds immunity, protects against under-nutrition and gives babies the best start in life. http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/india_54058.html  Currently, Unicef is trying to educate the people of India to the benefits of breastfeeding. I believe the reason for higher deaths when an infant is not nursed compared to an infant not nursed in the United States is because we have formula and we can mix that formula with fresh water. In India, they are using goat milk and they are feeding babies water that can be contaminated.  Indian women were led to believe the first few days where the babies drink just the colostrum, was unhealthy and the women would throw this away. Now there are educators who are passionate about promoting breastfeeding, so the woman are becoming more aware of the facts vs. the myths.

The information about educationing people on benefits of breastfeeding will benefit me in other areas. I realize that although I may think most people know certain things, whether it is about breastfeeding or child development, they may need to be educated. I can't assume that they know things that I may know from my learnings.