From August 1 to 7, the entire world celebrates World Breastfeeding Week 2022 (WBW) under the slogan 'Let's promote breastfeeding by supporting and educating'. This year's campaign aims to inform all those involved and influence more than ever to establish breastfeeding as part of good nutrition, food security and a way to reduce inequalities.
“The current situation we are experiencing, the emergence of a global pandemic and the political and economic crises also arise for mothers and families and, therefore, for breastfeeding. This is a moment of crisis that we have already had a range of great opportunities that are posed as challenges, ”Salomé Laredo Ortiz, president of the Initiative for the Humanization of Birth and Breastfeeding Assistance (IHAN), tells a newspaper.
According to the WHO, COVID-19 and geopolitical conflicts “have widened and deepened inequalities, leading more people to food insecurity.” However, society must know that "breast milk is perfectly designed for the nutritional and immunological needs" of the baby, also helping to prevent infections and stimulating brain development.
“The pandemic -adds Laredo- has already shown the limits of the capacity of the health system that affected support for breastfeeding, at the level of health professionals and support groups. Physical distancing meant less contact with mothers, making support and counseling difficult, both from professionals and from other mothers.”
Training and support
For all these reasons, this year's motto is not accidental. “Promoting, caring for, promoting and protecting breastfeeding is everyone's task. We must become aware as citizens of the importance of this", recalls the person in charge, who refers to couples, families, health services, workplaces and the community in general as elements of an "effective chain of support" for women to achieve optimal breastfeeding
All this implies “training in breastfeeding During pregnancy and before giving birth; that the birth takes place in calm environments and respects the mother and her baby, favoring immediate skin-to-skin contact; that mothers are not separated from their children and that the start of breastfeeding be supported as soon as possible, as the BFHI methodology indicates”, he emphasizes.
"This requires education to improve and increase the capacity of all those who work along this effective chain," emphasizes Laredo, who also alludes to the necessary support by "national policies based on clairvoyance." Only in this way, offering continuous care, will "improve breastfeeding rates, nutrition and health, both in the short and long term."
Choosing or not to breastfeed the baby is a decision that corresponds to the mother, who, in the opinion of the president of IHAN, must be well informed. Parents need to know that there are many reasons to breastfeed. "Breastfeeding is the norm intended by nature and not doing so carries significant risks for the future," he stresses to ABC.
Although it is an option sometimes sacrificed and full of unforeseen events, the reality is that breast milk is perfectly designed for the nutritional and immunological needs of the baby and helps prevent infections. Its benefits are numerous: it protects the health of the mother in the broadest term from diseases such as cardiovascular diseases or cancer, prevents cognitive deterioration, protects the oral health of the baby and benefits children who were born prematurely, among other advantages. It also "promotes the bond between the mother and her baby, regardless of the environment, and provides food security to the infant, from the beginning of his life, contributing to the food security of the whole family", recalls the expert.
formula milk
In addition, the celebration of the SMLM this year is even more special due to the "devastating" report, called Laredo, which the WHO stated a few months ago, which attributed the abusive marketing of infant formula as "alarming". These companies, the entity denounces, pay social media platforms and influencers to direct, in some way, the decision of families about how to feed their babies.
“Breastfeeding is the norm intended by nature and not doing so carries significant risks for the future”
According to the study 'Scope and impact of digital commerce strategies for the promotion of breast milk substitutes', these techniques, which contravene the International Code of Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes, increase the sales of these companies and discourage mothers from feeding their babies only breast milk, as recommended by the WHO. It is a "misleading and aggressive" advertising of formula milk for babies "which has a negative impact on breastfeeding practices", the study collects.
In this case, the president of BFHI recalls: “The actions of the breastmilk successor industry violate the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and subsequent relevant resolutions of the World Health Assembly (the Code) . Industry sponsorship of free education for health workers impedes support for breastfeeding in the health system by providing misleading information, biasing health provider records, and interfering with the establishment of breastfeeding in maternity hospitals.
“The actions of the breast-milk substitute industry violate the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes and subsequent relevant World Health Assembly resolutions”
For this reason, he considered that "it is necessary to work together with the country's government to guarantee compliance with the Code, in health services, which will allow mothers and fathers to receive independent and impartial information and will make them aware of the tactics of the breast milk successor industry. Only when there is no conflict of interest between the food industry and health professionals, the mother who, duly informed, decides not to breastfeed, will be respected and supported in her decision, as indicated in the BFHI methodology”.
In fact, last July, IHAN met with Alberto Garzón, Minister of Consumer Affairs, to initiate actions that promote breastfeeding and the protection of the commercial practices of manufacturers of substitute products.
“There is a long way to go. There is still a lot of work to be done -acknowledges Laredo-. But we are actively engaged in it.”
