More needs to be done for breastfeeding mothers
We need to be ‘lactivists’ to defend mothers’ right to nurse any time
Breastfeeding is hard work.
Just ask any mom who has struggled to get a newborn to latch on, woken up every few hours to respond to wails of hunger and put everything on hold to feed a tiny human with a stomach the size of a cherry “on demand.” Even for those who don’t encounter extra hitches, it’s a tough job, though one that gets easier with time.
Nursing moms need the encouragement of their partners, families, friends and doctors in this herculean task. But UNICEF and the World Health Organization say women around the globe also need the support of their governments, communities, public health authorities, policy-makers and development partners. It’s support, a new report timed to World Breastfeeding Week suggests, they are not getting nearly enough of.
The Global Breastfeeding Scorecard found that only 40 per cent of the world’s children are fed exclusively breastmilk for the first six months of life, as recommended by the WHO. Only 23 of 194 countries have breastfeeding rates above 60 per cent. The report says hitting a target of 50 per cent worldwide by 2025 would save the lives of half a million children under age five and create economic gains of $300 million over a decade.
Whether in the First World or the Third World, the benefits are the same. Breastmilk acts as an infant’s first vaccine, inoculating against common killers like diarrhea and pneumonia. It’s been shown to aid cognitive development and promote the flourishing of healthy gut bacteria. It also has advantages for moms, like reduced risks of ovarian and breast cancer. Plus it’s free, plentiful and always available.
Some of the barriers are the same, too. Countries need more investment in health services for moms and babies, laws against misleading advertising to push formula and better maternity leave policies that keep mothers and babies together longer.
But even Canada has to do more. According to Statistics Canada, 90 per cent of new moms initiated breastfeeding in 2012, but only 24 per cent breastfed exclusively for the first six months (until the child is ready for solid foods). In Quebec, the rates are similar, although they vary widely between regions. This suggests the support services required to establish nursing and troubleshoot problems are patchy. Quebec certainly seems to have a proactive strategy, with hospitals allowing babies to room in with mom, probreastfeeding posters plastered all over, ample advice dispensed in the annual Tiny Tot to Toddler guide for new parents and those charts they send you home with to measure milk intake by tracking output. But success can also be a matter of luck — which hospital you deliver at, which CLSC nurse visits you in those first days at home, whether you have someone to reach out to in case of trouble.
Seven years, two kids and four years of breastfeeding later, I will be forever grateful to a nurse named Debra at the Jewish General, who had the patience to sit down with this clueless first-time mom and teach her a few indispensable tricks.
A friend of mine was given a cursory “everything looks fine” from a harried nurse at another hospital, only to realize as her infant’s weight dropped, that her baby wasn’t getting enough milk. By the time the issue was detected, the crucial window for starting breastfeeding had closed. She and her child were failed by a health system that should have known better.
Of course there’s more than one right way to feed a baby and there’s nothing wrong with formula. There are lots of good reasons moms don’t breastfeed, or combine breast and bottle, and they don’t owe society an explanation. The point is mothers should feel we have their backs, no matter what they choose. But, unfortunately, judgment is another hurdle.
We’ve come a long way in terms of social acceptance, pleasant nursing rooms in public places, and laws that promote a woman’s right to nurse her child any time, any place. But every so often, a store or a restaurant still tries to send a mom to a filthy washroom to feed her baby.
Public personalities who try to help normalize breastfeeding in public by posting beautiful “brelfies” still have to deal with trolls. Angela Price, the wife of Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price, recently shut down one particularly aggressive Neanderthal on her blog.
The prudes who are offended by a flash of boob during a child’s lunch are usually unfazed by the objectification of women in popular culture. As if a nursing mom even wants onlookers sneaking a peek when she pulls up her shirt to meet her baby’s needs. You just do what you gotta do when you gotta do it.
That includes being a “lactivist,” when called upon, to defend our own rights and stand up for others. But we can’t do it alone. Dads and grandparents, friends and colleagues, fellow passengers and retail employees, bystanders and perfect strangers — we all need to do our part.
As the heads of the WHO and UNICEF said in a joint statement: “Breastfeeding is not a one-woman job.”