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WHO review of the long-term effects of breastfeeding 2007

Ted Greiner, Coordinator, World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action Research Task Force states:

This meta analysis concludes that

”The available evidence suggests that breastfeeding may have long-term benefits. Subjects who were breastfed experienced lower mean blood pressure and total cholesterol, as well as higher performance in intelligence tests. Furthermore, the prevalence of overweight/obesity and type-2 diabetes was lower among breastfed subjects. All effects were statistically significant, but for some outcomes their magnitude was relatively modest.”

A link to the entire document can be found at

http://www.who.int/child-adolescent-health/publications/NUTRITION/ISBN_92_4_159523_0.htm

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Media Release 27 July 2007

Cuddling young babies ‘skin to skin’ improves their health

New born and young babies breathe better, breastfeed better, bond better and have lower levels of stress hormones when they are held naked on their mothers’ bare chests, says La Leche League New Zealand.

Director Barbara Sturmfels says skin-to-skin contact is a valuable technique throughout infancy.

“The great thing is that it can be practiced by dads and grandparents as well as the mother.”

La Leche League is supporting the push by New Zealand maternity facilities to ensure that as many mothers and babies as possible have time together, skin-to-skin, after the baby’s birth.

“Studies have found that during the first hour of life a baby becomes increasingly alert. If the baby is placed skin-to-skin on its mother’s chest it is more likely to latch on, without assistance, to her breast. This takes about an hour, on average. A mother and baby will ideally remain together skin-to-skin for as long as they desire, and definitely until the completion of the first breastfeed. This process supports the baby’s natural, inborn instincts and enhances the baby’s transition into the outside world.”

Barbara Sturmfels says even routine labour or birth interventions can interfere with bonding between a mother and her baby and can interfere with establishing breastfeeding.

“The percentage of intervention-free births is very low at less than 10 percent nationally, so nearly all women have to cope with the effects of interventions when they begin breastfeeding”.

“For example, when women have been given epidural anaesthesia to relieve labour pain, their babies may have difficulty latching on to the breast and suckling effectively. Research shows that it takes several days or weeks for the effects of the medication to wear off, yet these early days are a critical time for the baby who is learning to breastfeed.”

Free breastfeeding information sessions, run by La Leche League Groups, are provided for pregnant as well as for breastfeeding women. At these sessions the women can learn about the effects of various birth interventions and get ideas from other mothers about how to solve resulting breastfeeding challenges, if they arise.

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Lord of La Leche - 5 April 2007

Veteran British actor John Rhys-Davies is lending his support to the breastfeeding group La Leche League following the birth of his daughter with former TVNZ presenter Lisa Manning.

The couple met when Lisa, who presented the hugely popular TV2 show DIY Rescue, interviewed John live on Good Morning two years ago. They now have a ten-month-old daughter, Maia, who was born at Middlemore Hospital last year.

John, who played Gimli in the Lord of The Rings trilogy, said: “I was amazed that Lisa’s milk was all that Maia needed for more than six months, and how bonded they are as a result”

La Leche League is a wonderful organisation, which supports breastfeeding and, amongst other things, helps women, like Lisa, who experience some difficulty learning how. It should be trumpeted from every rooftop!”

The NZ arm of the international organisation is using its biennial convention in Christchurch this coming week to launch new promotional literature, which it hopes will reach every pregnant woman in the country.

“I was determined to breastfeed Maia but had a few problems with infections and mastitis. I’m not sure how I would have coped without the support of John, my Mum and the La Leche League Leader in Pukekohe.”

“But, despite the amazing work LLL does in NZ and around the world, not enough women have heard of it. It should be as mainstream as Plunket!” Lisa says.

Research carried out last year shows that “La what?” is the response from many people when they hear the name La Leche League. It’s hoped the new information leaflet, funded by a $15,000 Ministry of Health grant, will raise the organisation’s profile and make it easier for pregnant or breastfeeding women to have their breastfeeding questions answered.

World Breastfeeding Week 2006 - Record Broken

This year’s World Breastfeeding Week saw 717 mothers breastfeeding simultaneously at 11am on Saturday 5 August at various venues around New Zealand. Last year's record of 654 was broken! The biggest turn out of breastfeeding women was 83 at Auckland Zoo and one mother registered her involvement in several places.

For more details about this event go to:

http://www.womens-health.org.nz/

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Breastfed Children Set The Standard [28 April 2006]

The World Health Organisation’s new child growth Standards show that breastfed babies and children are leaner than the standards used in New Zealand for the last 30 years.

“The disparity between the old and new Standards means that some healthy breastfed babies have been erroneously diagnosed as ‘underweight’ and their mothers advised to supplement their feeds or even wean, advice which if taken was detrimental to their babies’ health and development”, says Barbara Sturmfels, Director of La Leche League New Zealand. “Conversely, obesity and overweight in young children will have been underdiagnosed, contributing to the current obesity ‘epidemic’ which is the subject of a Parliamentary inquiry.”

The launch yesterday by the World Health Organisation of new child growth Standards (www.who.int/childhealth) is the culmination of 9 years’ work to determine how children should grow from birth to age 5. Unlike growth charts currently used in New Zealand and around the world, which were largely based on artificially fed babies, the new international growth Standards are based on the breastfed child as the physiological norm.

The 8440 children from 6 countries who were studied were raised in healthy environments which included exclusive breastfeeding for several months, followed by continued breastfeeding into the second year or beyond while being gradually weaned to a nutritious diet of solid foods. The new Standards show leaner infants and young children than the current New Zealand growth reference charts.

The new Standards encompass a range of normal growth which takes into account the variations of individual growth. WHO found that optimal growth was within the same range irrespective of a child’s racial or ethnic background. This means that the Standards can be applied with confidence to children of all ethnicities in New Zealand.

The launch coincides with the deadline for submissions to Parliament’s Health Select Committee Inquiry into Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes. WHO says the Standards will be an effective tool for detecting obesity because they allow for earlier diagnosis of excessive weight gain, and that the current obesity epidemic in many countries would have been detectable earlier had the Standards been available 20 years ago.

Minister of Health, Pete Hodgson, in an address to a food industry seminar last week, said, “Twenty-one per cent of our children 5-14 years are overweight and a further 10 per cent obese. The obesity epidemic is already causing enormous social and economic cost to our society and we know the epidemic has not yet peaked. We must prevent any further increase in obesity – especially in children.”

Barbara Sturmfels says, “Breastfeeding advocates around New Zealand will be looking to the Ministry of Health and providers of child health services to adopt the new Standards without delay as one of a package of measures to promote optimal nutrition from babyhood and thus reduce the incidence of obesity and related diseases.

“The new Standards will be reassuring for the many parents of breastfed children who over the years became anxious when told that their babies – particularly older babies from 6 months to 2 years - were too lean or not growing quickly enough, and were sometimes advised to supplement breastfeeding with artificial milk or additional solid foods or even to wean their babies. We hope to see an end to this harmful advice, and breastfeeding the older baby being encouraged rather than undermined.

“The various mechanisms by which breastfeeding protects against obesity are not yet fully understood. They are thought to include protective components in breast milk which influence the development of insulin receptors in the brain, changes in milk composition during feeding, and self-regulation of intake by breastfed babies.

“La Leche League welcomes the new growth Standards and looks forward to their adoption in New Zealand. The sooner everyone realises that the longer babies are breastfed the healthier they are, the sooner society as a whole will come to support breastfeeding and create the conditions where mothers feel able and comfortable to breastfeed their babies well beyond the early months,” said Ms Sturmfels.

For further information, contact:
Barbara Sturmfels
Director
La Leche League New Zealand
09 8461854
027 4552419
billandbarb@clear.net.nz

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World Health Day 2006: Working Together for Health [7 April 2006]

La Leche League International: Doing its Part
La Leche League International (LLLI) joins the World Health Organization (WHO) in celebrating and promoting health for all on April 7, World Health Day. The 2006 theme, “Working Together for Health,” recognizes the growing worldwide shortage of health care workers, and the need for international cooperation to find innovative solutions to this serious problem. There can be no doubt that there is a growing health workforce crisis in many parts of the world. The global population is rising, but the number of health workers is stagnating or even falling.

And the problem extends beyond mere decreasing numbers. Existing health care workers are often overworked, underpaid, and lack access to training to stay on top of global health threats.

So how can LLLI, a mother-to-mother breastfeeding support organization, help with this crisis?
Reduce the need for health care workers: Healthier people require fewer health care workers.

While this solution is both obvious and idealistic, it is at the heart of how breastfeeding builds global health. Breastfed babies are healthy babies, and their mothers’ health benefits from this simple act as well.
According to a recent report by the World Bank, a window of opportunity exists that begins with pregnancy and extends through a child’s first two years of life: if nutritional security is not adequately established early on, it may be too late to correct it later.
Not only does “malnutrition” refer to the millions of people worldwide who are undernourished, it also refers to the alarming trend–especially, but not limited to, in developed countries–of obesity. Breastfeeding can help prevent both ends of this malnutrition spectrum. The savings, both economic and in needed health care workers, is significant.

Recognize that the health of a community begins with a community of health: Caring for health does not always have to require health care workers.

Community-based support, such as that provided by La Leche League Leaders and breastfeeding counselors from other organizations, can help share good health practices with those living in a community.
Mothers learn the basics of breastfeeding from other experienced mothers, and thus are empowered to better recognize when the specialized knowledge of a health care worker is truly needed.

Broaden the definition of a health care worker: La Leche League Leaders are health care workers in the most generic sense.

Leaders are well-trained and accredited in both the art and science of lactation, and receive on-going education through local, national, and international LLL resources.
Leaders understand the basics of breastfeeding –an understanding that begins with personal experience–and are knowledgeable about a wide array of potential breastfeeding difficulties, as well as feasible and doable solutions.
La Leche League trains mothers to be peer counselors, thus adding to the health care base in a given community.

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NGO backs worldwide push for breastfeeding to six months and longer [29 July 2005]

La Leche League New Zealand is backing an international educational campaign to see breastfed babies stay off solid foods until six months of age.

High and rising rates of obesity, diabetes and breast cancer are now partially attributed to starting solid foods too early and children not breastfeeding long enough.

Many New Zealand women are shocked that they have not been informed of the possible long-term consequences of starting solids too soon or weaning earlier than officially recommended by the World Health Organisation which says that babies should only have their mother’s milk for the first six months of life and continue breastfeeding with appropriate solids to two years or beyond.

Dr Alison Barrett, Obstetrician and member of La Leche League New Zealand’s Board of Consultants says, "The evidence that breastfeeding confers lifelong and dose related benefits to women and their children is so compelling, it could be considered negligent of doctors to not make parents aware of this. The time has come for doctors to stop worrying about making women feel guilty about not breastfeeding. As an obstetrician, I know that all mothers want the best for their babies. The information that 2 years of breastfeeding - at least - is not only normal, but in a child's best interests, needs to get out there, to both health professionals and parents alike."

La Leche League supports:

Six months exclusive breastfeeding
Introduction of nutritious foods after six months
Continuing breastfeeding while feeding solid foods to two years or older

‘We help pregnant women and new mothers learn about breastfeeding pretty much every day of the year’ says Brylin Highton, La Leche League Leader in Dunedin for many years. ‘But this week, our efforts are aimed at getting the message out to the wider community that the more you breastfeed, the more you and your baby benefit’.

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