I’ve never been successful in breastfeeding. With my two older girls, I only breastfed for one month. I was in my early twenties then so I was young and totally uniformed. I was also never exposed to the benefits of breastfeeding since my mom did not really breastfeed me and my siblings much either. With my youngest child, my only son, I was hell-bent on exclusively breastfeeding him for at least six months. I was already in my thirties then and I had read some blogs, websites and magazine articles to inform myself about breastfeeding. I really thought I would be able to do it. I was wrong.
Although I wanted to breastfeed my son, a number of factors prevented me from doing so – post partum depression, our housemaid leaving suddenly without warning so I had very little help with the chores, my two daughters were then in the middle of their final exams in school with only me to help them study. Add that to the fact that I had to take care of my new baby, who had difficulty latching. I was tired and overwhelmed and frustrated. I became so stressed that it affected my milk supply. Although my husband tried to be supportive, in the end he just told me to do what I think would make things easier for me because he didn’t want to see me crying all the time. Besides him, there was no one else who could have given me the support that I needed to continue breastfeeding, and so I gave up.
To this day, I regret not trying harder to breastfeed. I believe in all the benefits that breastfeeding has to offer. So, even if I can no longer change what has happened to my breastfeeding story, I continue to advocate breastfeeding to other people in the hopes that what happened to me won’t happen to them. That is why I feel so privileged to have been chosen by the Global Team of 200 to write about Save the Children’s campaign on championing breastfeeding.
According to their website, “Save the Children is the world’s leading independent organization for children”. Their vision is “a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation”. Their mission is “to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives”.
Save the Children has released a new report called “Superfood for Babies”, which looks at how hundreds of thousands of babies’ lives a year could be saved through breastfeeding and what it will take to get there. The report finds that there are four major barriers to breastfeeding and that we need to support moms who choose to breastfeed to overcome these – especially in developing countries where it can save their babies’ lives. Here are the four major barriers to breastfeeding:
1. Cultural and community pressures
– Many women are not empowered to make their own health decisions. For example, in a Sierra Leone survey, 47% reported this was the case.
– Save the Children works with fathers, with mothers-in-law, and even religious leaders to overcome these barriers. In the Philippines, for example, Save the Children’s programs refer to verses from the Koran and quote Muslim leaders who assert that Mohammed was wet-nursed.
2. Global health worker shortage
– One third of moms give birth with no skilled health worker present.
– Save the Children analyzed data in 44 countries and found that women who had a skilled attendant present at birth were twice as likely to initiate breastfeeding within the first hour.
3. Lack of maternity legislation
– Save the Children commissioned research to look at maternity protection in the 36 low-income countries with the highest number of malnourished children.
– It looked at whether maternity leave met the International Labor Organization (ILO) minimum standards (14 weeks leave moving toward a recommended 18), financial protections and policies to accommodate breastfeeding women at work.
– Only Vietnam met 18 weeks (6 months) leave. Only 10 countries exceeded 14 weeks.
4. Aggressive marketing of breast-milk substitutes
– The global baby food industry is estimated to be worth more than $36 billion and that figure is predicted to rise by 31% by 2015. Formula accounts for the majority of the industry – $25 billion.
– The International Code of Marketing Breast-milk Substitutes (“The Code”) was created by the World Health Assembly in 1981 and has been updated numerous times since. It is a set of minimum standards to promote and protect breastfeeding and ensure breast-milk substitutes are used safely if needed. Sadly not everybody in the industry adheres to these standards.
The report further states that starting breastfeeding earlier can make a big difference because the colostrum (first milk) jump-starts a baby’s immune system, and more often leads to extended breastfeeding. Breastfeeding immediately after birth could help save 830,000 newborn babies a year from dying. Even more babies could be saved if all of these moms breastfed exclusively for six months.
It is also alarming to find that the fight to reduce child mortality is advancing. The annual death toll is still far too high at under 7 million now. So, we need to ramp up our efforts in this area and breastfeeding is key to succeeding. We need to help more moms get access to important information regarding breastfeeding. Save the Children made a parody of the notorious Time magazine cover on breastfeeding. Instead of “Are you Mom Enough?” it says “Are we supporting moms enough?”. I don’t think so.
Here’s how you can help:
- Sign this petition to tell US Secretary of State, John Kerry to fight for newborn nutrition and to demand renewal of the 1,000 days call to action. 1,000 days is the critical time from pregnancy and a child’s second birthday where there are the best chances to prevent malnutrition.
- Spread the word about this campaign to your friends and family through your blog or social media. You can tweet about it and use the hashtag, #Firsthour.
