A little on Breastfeeding….
During the week beginning 21st June we will be taking part in the National Breastfeeding Awareness Week in the Creative Quarter, Folkestone.
As a company we support parents in making their own choices when it comes to feeding their babies, however, we do feel that Breastfeeding has received a hard rap over the years. We are, therefore, in support of the National Breastfeeding Awareness Week because it’s all about offering support to those parents who want to Breastfeed their babies if they choose to.
Breastfeeding is Natural
You can’t get away from the fact that Breastfeeding is a natural process and being that we are Herbalists and believe that the body know’s best we are in favour of Breastfeeding if at all possible. Here’s some research about the benefits of Breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding may have protective effect on child and adolescent mental health
A number of studies have indicated a relationship between breastfeeding and meeting developmental milestones and cognition. Some studies have also indicated that breastfeeding may be associated with psychological and behavioural outcomes but the methodologies have been questioned. A study was carried out in Australia to determine whether there was an independent effect of breastfeeding on child and adolescent mental health. A total of 2,900 pregnant women were recruited and those having live births were followed up for 14 years. Mental health status was assessed using a validated tool at 2, 6, 8, 10 and 14 years. The tool allowed for assessment of “internalised” issues such as being withdrawn, anxious/depressed and for “externalised” issues such as delinquent or aggressive behaviour. Maternal confounders such as age, education, smoking, family income, family structure, life stress events and depression were taken into account. The researchers found that breastfeeding for less than 6 months compared with 6 months or more was an independent predictor of mental health problems, both internalised and externalised through childhood and into adolescence. The researchers recommend interventions aimed at increasing breastfeeding duration as this could be of long term benefit for child and adolescent mental health.
US study shows breastfeeding can significantly reduce health costs and save lives
A previous study carried out in the USA in 2001 revealed that $3.6 billion could be saved related to 3 diseases if breastfeeding rates were increased to levels of the Healthy People objectives. Current Healthy People objectives include 75 per cent breastfeeding initiation, 50 per cent any breastfeeding and 17 per cent exclusive breastfeeding at 6 months. This study aimed to update that costing, widening the diseases considered in the light of the 2007 breastfeeding report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality 1. The researchers analysed current costs and compared them to the projected costs if 80 per cent and 90 per cent of US families could exclusively breastfeed for 6 months, as per recommendations. Diseases included in the analysis were: necrotizing enterocolitis, otitis media, gastroenteritis, hospitalization for lower respiratory tract infections, atopic dermatitis, sudden infant death syndrome, childhood asthma, childhood leukaemia, type 1 diabetes mellitus, and childhood obesity. Type 2 diabetes was excluded from this analysis due to insufficient data. Direct health care costs and indirect costs such as time taken off work by parents were considered. The authors acknowledge that their study could be argued to be limited by inconsistencies in some data related to costs and breastfeeding durations, however in order to compensate for this they erred towards conservative estimates and as they were unable for many of the diseases to incorporate the impact of partial breastfeeding due to lack of relevant data, the true cost savings could be higher.
The researchers found that if 90 per cent of US families breastfed exclusively for 6 months, the United States would save $13 billion per year and prevent an excess 911 deaths, nearly all of which would be in infants ($10.5 billion and 741 deaths at 80% compliance). They conclude that investment in strategies to promote longer breastfeeding duration and exclusivity may be cost-effective
These research articles were taken from www.babyfriendly.org.uk for a copy of their Breastfeeding leaflet click here
