Breastfeeding: the Best Choice for Mothers
Breastfeeding: The Best Choice for Mothers
A Position Paper Presented to xxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Course in Communication 2
By
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
20 February 2011
What’s the big deal about breastfeeding? This question has been usually asked by most mothers and curious individuals. Health practitioners would often weigh the advantages and disadvantages of breastfeeding and formula feeding but they would just come up to the same frequent answer: breastfeeding is the best and cannot be replaced by any commercially-prepared infant formula milk. This statement has existed for a very long time and I strongly believe that with the support of recent studies and researches, there will never be a time that this assertion will be null and void. In the Philippines, the Department of Health (DOH) has urged healthcare facilities that provide services to pregnant mothers, new mothers and newborns to follow the “10 steps to successful breastfeeding” recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to ensure that infants are fed adequately with mother’s milk (PhilStar, 2010). This very supportive attempt of the health agencies of the government to promote breastfeeding should impress mothers on how they are cared about and their babies. The “10 steps to successful breastfeeding” include having a written breastfeeding policy that is communicated routinely to all health care staff; training all health care staff in the skills necessary to implement the policy; informing all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding; helping mothers initiate breastfeeding within 30 minutes of life; showing mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation even if separated from their infants; giving newborn infants no food and drink other than human milk unless medically-indicated;
A Position Paper Presented to xxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Course in Communication 2
By
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
20 February 2011
What’s the big deal about breastfeeding? This question has been usually asked by most mothers and curious individuals. Health practitioners would often weigh the advantages and disadvantages of breastfeeding and formula feeding but they would just come up to the same frequent answer: breastfeeding is the best and cannot be replaced by any commercially-prepared infant formula milk. This statement has existed for a very long time and I strongly believe that with the support of recent studies and researches, there will never be a time that this assertion will be null and void. In the Philippines, the Department of Health (DOH) has urged healthcare facilities that provide services to pregnant mothers, new mothers and newborns to follow the “10 steps to successful breastfeeding” recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to ensure that infants are fed adequately with mother’s milk (PhilStar, 2010). This very supportive attempt of the health agencies of the government to promote breastfeeding should impress mothers on how they are cared about and their babies. The “10 steps to successful breastfeeding” include having a written breastfeeding policy that is communicated routinely to all health care staff; training all health care staff in the skills necessary to implement the policy; informing all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding; helping mothers initiate breastfeeding within 30 minutes of life; showing mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation even if separated from their infants; giving newborn infants no food and drink other than human milk unless medically-indicated;
Bibliography: Basilio, Robert Jr. “Fathers, employers urged to support breastfeeding”. GMANews.tv. 28 Aug 2010. http://www.gmanews.tv/story/199627/father-employers-urged-to-support-breastfeeding Breastfeeding Basics.org. “Breastfeeding Benefits and Barriers”. 2010. http://www.breastfeedingbasics.org/cgi-bin/deliver-cgi/content/index.html Crisostomo, Shiela. “DOH to hospitals: Follow WHO recommendations on breastfeeding”. Philippine Star. 26 Sep 2010. http://www.philstar.com/article.aspx?article Id=634778&publicationSubCategoryId=63 Philippines. Department of Health. “DOH releases guidelines for physicians in breastfeeding”. Philippines: 21 May 2010. http://portal.doh.gov.ph/node/2658 Pillitteri, Adele. Maternal and Child Health Nursing: Care of the Childbearing and Childbearing Family. 5th ed. California: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2007.