This year’s World Breastfeeding Week slogan is “World Breastfeeding Week 2016: Breastfeeding is key to sustainable development“. As stated by NIJZ:
“This year is marked by reflection on the importance of breastfeeding for sustainable development. At the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ), back in 2014 during World Breastfeeding Week, we highlighted that while focusing on breast milk as a valuable resource for the child’s wellbeing, it is important to shed light on breastfeeding also from the perspective of the planet’s wellbeing.””
In their contribution for this year’s World Breastfeeding Week, they continue:
“Many modern scientific findings speak to the importance of breastfeeding for the health of the child and the mother, and its significance goes beyond individual health benefits. When we talk about environmental justice—about humanity using resources moderately, efficiently, and sensibly, resources available to all living beings—it holds that human (maternal) milk is intended for human babies. For mothers to breastfeed their children, we need awareness of the importance of breastfeeding for the sustainable development of a healthy community in a healthy environment.”
Responsible use of resources also means enabling and safeguarding good breastfeeding practices. At the same time, we need to address what mothers need to carry out their decision to breastfeed. Measures to help and support breastfeeding mean action across different areas and levels, including identifying individual barriers and removing them. “At the level of the individual, the immediate and wider environment, and society and culture, there are barriers to breastfeeding, such as inadequate or incorrect information, knowledge and skills, personality traits such as shyness or lack of self-confidence, work and study obligations, duties of caring for other loved ones, time constraints, lack of support from a partner, family, friends, inappropriate perinatal care practices that do not support physiological processes or disrupt them with unnecessary measures and interventions, cultural expectations that breastfeeding should be an ‘invisible’ and private activity that does not belong in public spaces,” said Dr. Zalka Drglin from NIJZ, adding that almost all barriers can be overcome or dismantled.
What matters is the following:
- information and awareness among different target groups – expectant mothers and fathers, members of the immediate and extended family, friends, employers, the local community, decision-makers such as ministries, heads of institutions and professional associations, mayors, journalists, media representatives, and society at large;
- an appropriate support network – family members, the local community, NGOs, a supportive work environment, counsellors for information and direct help and support with doubts and difficulties, health and other professionals with up-to-date and mutually aligned information, practical knowledge and communication skills with an individualized approach, and suitable time and space conditions for breastfeeding support;
- appropriate conditions for implementing good breastfeeding practices:
- a physiological course of pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period, with recognition of the needs of the newborn and the mother, and enabling those needs to be met whenever possible;
- appropriate action and treatment in case of health issues in the baby or the mother;
- secured housing, financial, and other material resources for family life;
- enough time and practical opportunities to devote to the baby and their needs (maternity leave, leave to care for and look after a child);
- a fair distribution of family and household responsibilities;
- gender equality at different levels;
- supportive environments at home and in public spaces and institutions;
- appropriate opportunities for a breastfeeding mother to take care of herself (rest, relaxation, food, drink, suitable, effective, accessible health care …).
So how should we act on breastfeeding in connection with protecting resources?
At the global level, we focus on supporting, protecting, and promoting breastfeeding as responsible resource use. »Working so that mothers who choose to do so can breastfeed their babies fully and for an appropriate length of time is a shared responsibility of health and other professionals, employers, the immediate and extended family, friends, and the local community; it is a binding task for society and also an investment in a better future,” said Dr. Zalka Drglin from NIJZ, explaining that for the coexistence of living beings on the planet and the protection of our shared Earth, it is important to enable and nurture good breastfeeding practices as well.”
Below are links to materials produced under the auspices of NIJZ:
- Breastfeeding
- Nutrition for a breastfeeding mother
- Nutrition for a healthy baby (child up to 1 year of age)
- Article: Eco (and) breast milk: Breastfeeding, environmental impacts, and the position of women
And where can you turn for help from counsellors?
Many mums were also helped by the book 10 Ps for Successful Breastfeeding.
