This year has just begun and already there has been a great deal of interest in the health of mothers and babies. The United States Surgeon General Regina Benjamin M.D, M.B.A has issued a Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding. The document lists 20 key actions to improve and support breastfeeding in the United States. There are too many actions to list all of them here, so we will just highlight three.
Give mothers the support they need to breastfeed their babies. This action is instrumental in providing knowledgeable support in the hospital. Women are only kept in the hospital for several days, depending on the type of delivery they had. Some women, due to an over medicated delivery, may have difficulty breastfeeding in the early days; then the mother and baby are discharged and sent home. In my many years of being an IBCLC, I have seen these mothers have the most difficult time with feedings. By the time she is feeling better, it is time to be discharged but feedings were not given the attention they needed to progress. It would be my hope that the hospital system would recognize this and decrease the amount of cesarean sections, limit the use of medications and employ more than one IBCLC in a full-time position.
Ensure that employers establish and maintain comprehensive, high-quality lactation support programs for their employees. This is also one of the areas where the United Stated falls behind in promoting support for breastfeeding mothers. The Federal Law that mandates companies to place lactation rooms in buildings and support “reasonable break time for nursing mothers” is not being upheld. Several women have told me that if they work for a large company, ONLY the main offices have provisions for them. Satellite offices and smaller entities of large companies are not complying with the laws. Mothers, here in the Westchester area, are dealing with a difficult situation. Breastfeeding at Full Circle has a Corporate Lactation Program to help companies comply with this law.
Ensure access to services provided by International Board Certified Lactation Consultants. Presently there are only a few insurances that are covering the services of an IBCLC. This is another obstacle that women have to overcome. There is a lot of research proving that if a mother has access to an IBCLC in a hospital and at home, then she is more likely to continue to breastfeed her child. IBCLC’s are specially educated and trained in the physical and emotional care of breastfeeding mothers. As most mothers who have enlisted the care of an IBCLC know, there is a difference in the approach and knowledge that goes into the counseling and support of breastfeeding.
What do you think about these topics? If you have ever been assisted by an IBCLC , what was your experience?
For the full Surgeon General’s report you can go to www.surgeongeneral.gov.