Breastfeeding And Society

24

paediatric nursing October vol 18 no 8

policy

Breast feeding and society
Abstract
Britain has the iowest breastfeeding rate of ali countries in Europe; it is no longer the cuiturai norm in our society. Breastfeeding rates are affected by public attitude. This state of affairs is partiy because of society's views on breastfeeding mothers, even though breastfeeding is known to be the optimum method of infant feeding for the baby famiiy and society.
Common themes in the literature and websites are the economic advantages of breastfeeding, the public health benefits and the social construct of breastfeeding. Paediatric nurses have an important role in supporting breastfeeding mothers so that they are able to continue breastfeeding.

Felicity Hunt is a student nurse at University of
Nottingham

C

hildren have the right to adequate nutrition and access to safe and nutritious food.
Worldwide, barely one in three children are breastfed exclusively in the first four months of life, and only one in five receives breastmilk at six months old (World Health Organization (WHO)
2oo6). According to UNICEF (2005) more than
3,000 babies are dying every day from infections caused by bottle feeding, and 1.5 million children are dying each year because they are not breastfed.
In developing countries, where the post neonatal mortality rate is 90 per 1,000 children, artificial feeding 'would produce an excess of postnatal deaths per million births ranging from 13 per cent to
59 per cent' (Costello and Sachdev 1998). Artificial feeding is an avoidable health risk and breastfeeding exclusively is recommended for at least the first six months of life, continuing alongside complementary food for up to two years (WHO and United Nations
Children's Fund 1999).
The World Health Organization stresses that all governments should ensure that breastfeeding is facilitated in every society to encourage the development of each child to its full potential
(WHO 2006). With fewer than 25 per cent

References: Aasheim V et al (2000) Breastfeeding in Norway. MIDIRS Midwifery Digest BBC (2005) National breastfeeding awareness week, www.bbc.co.uk/ May 2005] British Medical Association (1999) Carson C (2001) How is the government going to raise breastfeeding rates? British Journal of Costello A, Sachdev H (1998) Protecting breast feeding from Gartner L ef al (2005) Breastfeeding and the use of human milk. Gerrard A (2001) Breast-feeding in Norway: Where did they go right? Hamlyn B (2002) Infant feeding report 2000 Lee B (2004) Breastfeeding: state of the art Li R et a; (2002) Public perceptions on breastfeeding constraints Meyer DE, de Oliveira DL (2003) Breastfeeding policies and the Minchin M (2000) Artificial feeding and risk: the last taboo National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) (2006) nice.org.uk Protheroe L et al (2003) The breastfeeding (Gartner et al 2005, Wheian and Lupton 1998). 2003, Lee 2004). UNICEF and WHO are planning to extend the Baby Friendly Initiative more widely across paediatric units (UNIGEF 2005). importance and benefits of breastfeeding (BBC 2005, Li et al 2002) incalculable costs of illness and death resulting from artificial feeding (UNICEF UK 2004) et al 2005, WHO 2006). Further research on the provision and knowledge of breastfeeding in paediatric units is needed. A recent news report (BBC 2005) said that a survey commissioned by the hda.nhs.uk [accessed 2 May 2005] Thompson J (2002) The benefits UNICEF UK (2004) Financial savings with higher breastfeeding rates. www.babyfriendly.org.uk UNICEF UK (2005) Baby Friendly Initiative, www.babyfriendly.org.uk Weimer J (2001) The Economic