The Breastfeeding Conversation has changed! Share the excitement, the energy and the inside line from the Best Brains in Breastfeeding from our BBIC launch event- recorded live on Nov 10, 2009 in New York.

http://www.breastfeedinginformation.org/kick-off

http://visitbulgaria.info/11812-new-five-year-campaign-encouraging-breastfeeding

According to health ministers in Australia, new mothers should be encouraged to exclusively breastfeed their babies till they are six months old, while Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon met her state and territory counterparts in Adelaide today to put together a strategy for encouraging more women to breastfeed their babies.

http://cfmidwifery.blogspot.com/2009/09/birth-breastfeeding-and-feminism.html

Earlier this year a birth activist contacted me for information about feminism and birth. Her “fire” was to write an article was lit by recent (at the time) articles praising elective cesareans. Her article was going to be about feminism and its history in birthwork as well as what she is seeing a current “backlash” against the work of doulas, chidlbirth educators, and midwives (so, elective cesarean being framed as a “feminist” choice in some articles). She asked me for additional articles about similar issues and questions.

http://www.sciencecodex.com/ada_releases_updated_position_paper_on_breastfeeding

The American Dietetic Association has released an updated position paper on breastfeeding that details health benefits for both infants and mothers and encourages promotion of breastfeeding whenever possible.

ADA’s position paper, published in the November issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, represents the Association’s official stance on breastfeeding:

It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that exclusive breastfeeding provides optimal nutrition and health protection for the first 6 months of life and breastfeeding with complementary foods from 6 months until at least 12 months of age is the ideal feeding pattern for infants. Breastfeeding is an important public health strategy for improving infant and child morbidity and mortality and improving maternal morbidity and helping to control health care costs.

http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20081102-16879.html

The Perth scientist who made the world-first discovery that human breast milk contains stem cells is confident that within five years scientists will be harvesting them to research treatment for conditions as far-reaching as spinal injuries, diabetes and Parkinson’s disease.

But what Dr Mark Cregan is excited about right now is the promise that his discovery could be the start of many more exciting revelations about the potency of breast milk.

Doctors have long known that infants who are breast-fed contract fewer infections than do those who are given formula. Until fairly recently, most physicians presumed that breast-fed children fared better simply because milk supplied directly from the breast is free of bacteria. Formula, which must often be mixed with water and placed in bottles, can become contaminated easily. Yet even infants who receive sterilized formula suffer from more meningitis and infection of the gut, ear, respiratory tract and urinary tract than do breast-fed youngsters.

The reason, it turns out, is that mother’s milk actively helps newborns avoid disease in a variety of ways. Such assistance is particularly beneficial during the first few months of life, when an infant often cannot mount an effective immune response against foreign organisms. And although it is not the norm in most industrial cultures, UNICEF and the World Health Organization both advise breast-feeding to “two years and beyond.” Indeed, a child’s immune response does not reach its full strength until age five or so.

http://www.promom.org/bf_info/sci_am.htm

Why is it that governments and health care providers make donor blood a priority, but don’t make donor milk a priority? Why is it that despite the existence of artificial blood products, we have intricate and complex systems set up to collect and screen donor blood from other human beings to provide to those in need. Why is it that despite the opportunity to set up similar systems to collect and screen donor milk we settle for giving our babies artificial milk products?

http://www.phdinparenting.com/2009/07/03/blood-milk-and-profits/

Breast-fed babies receive a different milk drink depending on the time of day – the natural equivalent of cappuccino in the morning and Horlicks at night, say scientists.

Breast milk delivered in the morning gives infants a pick-me-up because it contains natural stimulants.

But the night-time version will help babies sleep thanks to calming chemical compounds, a report claims.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1217765/For-baby-breast-milk-cappuccino-Morning-feed-gives-infants-natural-pick-up.html

Forget the hands-free breast pump. That innovation is so last month’s hot mommy blogging news. The new must have: a pump that lets you keep your clothes on while you’re making milk.

The Freemie comes from a physician who also happens to be a mother. Dr. Stella Dao’s twins were premies, which meant a whole lot of pumping was going on in the early weeks of their lives.

http://blogs.babble.com/strollerderby/2009/09/16/new-breast-pump-lets-you-do-it-with-your-clothes-on/

http://www.momlogic.com/2009/08/the_secret_war_against_breastfeeding.php

But the mother/infant dyad is far from alone. That precious couple is precariously perched in a sea of cultural messages and pressures telling a woman to be more than a mother. These messages and pressures unknowingly sway mothers to veer from nature’s plan, by feeding convenient, manufactured formula to their child, something that pediatricians and countless studies have proven to be less beneficial. Perhaps most injurious, entwined in our subtle cultural programming is the message that women are independent and entirely responsible for their choices. There is a war against breastfeeding in America — and mothers are being blamed for decisions they aren’t actually making.

Read more: http://www.momlogic.com/2009/08/the_secret_war_against_breastfeeding.php#ixzz0PUo7OBRf

http://drmomma.blogspot.com/2009/08/busting-breastfeeding-myths.html

Many fears and anxieties impair or derail a woman’s breastfeeding relationship with her baby, or discourage her from breastfeeding in the first place. Some of these anxieties have no scientific basis, while others may stem from illogical magnification and unwarranted generalization of incidents that have happened to only a small number of women.

I have found that the most common myths are generally based on fears of inadequacy. Women can be uncertain about breastfeeding because they have never seen another woman do it. They have been too shy to ask questions about it, and have unconsciously absorbed the anti-breastfeeding messages that pervade our popular media and serve to alienate a woman from her own body.

http://balita.ph/2009/08/27/pgma-urges-public-to-support-breastfeeding-in-rp/

MANILA, Aug. 27 — President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today enjoined Filipinos to support the breastfeeding movement, citing the benefits of mothers’ milk to the health and well-being of infants in the country.

The President said mothers’ milk “is the best source of nutrition for infants and the most economical way to nourish Filipino babies.”

Breastfeeding is part of the global strategy on infant and young child feeding of the Millennium Development Goals to which the Philippines adheres.

http://www.blisstree.com/babylune/restaurant-fined-fired-breastfeeding-mom/

An LA Restaurant was recently fined for firing an employee that breastfed her baby during her breaks. As you can imagine this did not go over very well with the community of breastfeeding moms or the legal department.

Jesus Acosta, the owner of Acosta Tacos, has been fined $46,000 for firing Marina Chavez.

Evidence shows that several specific practices in intrapartum medical care settings can significantly affect breastfeeding rates and duration of breastfeeding among women. Birth facility policies and practices that create a supportive environment for breastfeeding begin prenatally and continue through discharge.

http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/data/mpinc/index.htm

http://www.amotherinisrael.com/2009/05/14/breastfeeding-solids-israel-health-ministry/

This week the Israel health ministry issued new guidelines on introduction of complementary foods (solids) to breastfeeding babies. Unfortunately, the media got hold of the information early and published misleading information.

There is nothing especially new or radical in the guidelines, which are based on information from the World Health Organization.

http://www.lavidalocavore.org/diary/1677/carolyn-maloney-to-reintroduce-breastfeeding-promotion-act

At Mother Talkers, prgrsvmama26 brings us the news that Representative Carolyn Maloney of New York will reintroduce the Breastfeeding Promotion Act in June. Among other things, this bill would

* Add breastfeeding mothers in the workplace as a protected class under the Civil Rights Act of 1964
* Provide incentives for employers to have private lactation areas for workers
* Create a performance standard for breastpump equipment
* Create tax deductions for pumping equipment

http://www.naturalnews.com/024609.html

The majority of hospitals and birth centers in the United States have practices that make it less likely that mothers will breastfeed, according to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In the first-ever nationwide review of breastfeeding promotion practices in the United States, the CDC sent questionnaires to hospitals and birthing centers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Depending on their answers, institutions were given a score between zero and 100 (perfect).

A total of 2,546 hospitals and 121 birth centers responded to the survey.

One of the specific tasks of midwives is to promote breastfeeding to mothers who have recently given birth. Breastfeeding can be commended as one of the most recommended child healthcare strategy to date, as the World Health Organization, health care associations, and government health agencies affirm the scientific evidence of the clear superiority of human milk and of the hazards of artificial milk products (2003). The breast milk that mothers’ produce has been proven to enhance immune system and resist infections, protect babies from chronic disease, and provide nutritional, physical and mental benefits ( 2003). However, despite recommendations, the time or duration to which breastfeeding is said to be implemented, is surrounded with contradictions as different nations and institutions recommend different breastfeeding times.

http://ivythesis.typepad.com/term_paper_topics/2009/04/midwifery-an-investigation-of-the-benefits-and-success-of-breastfeeding-for-the-first-six-months.html