This is the 19′th annual celebration of World Breastfeeding Week.  The Theme of 2010 is commemorating the Innocenti Declaration made by WHO and UNICEF policy-makers in August 1990 to protect, promote and support breastfeeding.

In the past 20 years there has been some progress in the rates of  initiation of breastfeeding.  Yet, only 28% of Maternity facilities world-wide have fully implemented the Ten Steps and have been certified by the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative.  Were this an analysis of anything else, this would not be a passing grade.

 I’ve been in the trenches throughout this period and beyond.  At first glance, it appears as though we have made great strides.   According to the NYC Dept. of  Health and Mental Hygiene report put out in April 2009,  an impressive 85%  of women initiate breastfeeding.  However, after 2 months the number falls to 32% who are still exclusively breastfeeding their babies.  Surveys reveal that the top two reasons for stopping were related to concerns about the milk supply either having enough (39%) or that it was adequately satisfying their babies (39%).

The fall off rate here in NYC is quite dramatic, but not surprising to me.  Despite health code regulations that prohibit formula discharge packs, many families will leave the hospital with generous samples of formula in tow.  Mothers who have had cesarean sections report that their babies were given at least one bottle, if not more, of formula during the first few days after delivery.  

Many of the New York hospitals have lactation consultants on staff or nurses “trained” to support breastfeeding.  Nonetheless, their focus seems to increasingly be on feeding a measurable amount of fluid to the newborns.  They get  moms to sit on the pump getting drops of colostrum and encourage them to give their babies formula until the “milk comes in”. 

 Using the pump as a  first line of breastfeeding support relegates direct breastfeeding to the back seat.  New mothers leave the hospital knowing how to pump rather than how to achieve a deep, pain-free latch.

New parents are set up to believe that artificial baby milk or formula and human milk can be exchanged ounce for ounce in bottles without consequence .  Unwittingly they are weaning from the beginning or setting themselves up to experience the top two reasons many of them will choose not to breastfeed beyond two months.

Without a doubt, the Ten Steps are a helpful tool to focus our attention on the importance of consistent breastfeeding education and support.

To pack a punch and ensure successful breastfeeding beyond the first few weeks, the Ten Steps must be embraced by unequivocal  and truly breastfeeding-friendly health care workers:  nurses, doctors and lactation consultants. 

To be continued…

I spend a lot of time at my local Starbucks. It is a very spacious, well-appointed location on the upper westside of New York City which attracts a diverse crowd from all walks of life. It is a common meeting place for many who live in, or are passing through, my neighborhood. On any given day there are various business people, artists, writers, moms with babies or children, students and tourists conducting business or socializing within my Starbucks.

I particularily liked the Starbucks “The Way I See It” cups from a few years ago.  They featured inspirational or thought provoking quotes to add a jolt to the java.

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© irisheyz_5's

“In my career I”ve found that ‘thinking outside the box’ works better if I know what’s ‘inside the box.’ In music (as in life) we need to understnad our pertinent history…and moving on is so much easier when we know where we’ve been.”

~Dave Grusin, Award winning composer & jazz musician

Starbucks has become my incubator where I research, hatch, and often demo, my conscious breastfeeding marketing ideas. I strike up conversations with fellow bloggers, tech-savvy guys, other self-employed regulars, or virtually any friendly soul I meet on line or seated near me. Invariably they are curious and intrigued by the “business of lactation”. We open a dialogue where “Isn’t it natural?” is a common question. Many of them share with me some of their own personal breastfeeding stories or those of their relations or co-workers.

These coffee “klatches” are a fun way to do research and marketing. I get a pulse on what the locals and tourists are currently thinking about breastfeeding. I can plant seeds or add a different point of view that may empower a current or prospective breastfeeding family. What I learn from these encounters become the fodder for future articles, blog posts and are woven in as anecdotes during my breastfeeding classes. They ultimately become user, or potential user, generated content.

So I invite you to think outside the box on your next trip to Starbucks and view it as a marketing opportunity.

Women, mothers, health professionals, lactation consultants, breastfeeding alumni and other interested parties have gathered forces in the past 50+ years to bring back breastfeeding to its rightful place as the foundation of human nutrition.  Yet there has been only modest improvement despite the fervor of breastfeeding advocacy initiatives.

As a nurse and lactation consultant,  I still feel like a salmon swimming up stream.  Consciousness has been raised, but we are doing little more than treading water.  Many women choose not to breastfeed or greatly modify their goals to breastfeed based upon the thin veneer of support they receive in the hospital and community. 

It is not politically correct to steer a mother to choose breastfeeding.  Says who?  It’s just how you do it that matters.  Some of the current marketing strategies may be missing the mark because they are not looking at the reality of breastfeeding in a modern life.   Perhaps we should take a page from the marketing phenom Oprah who endorses a book and it hits the best seller list within hours.  We need to get out a positive message that would make a woman ask, “Why wouldn’t I join in the fun?”
 
The only way that breastfeeding can become the gold standard again and reach back to the tipping point where it is the norm, rather than the exception, is to make it like a Honda commercial….It sells itself because it truly fits into the mother’s lifestyle.  

Conscious Breastfeeding is intentional and puts the mother in charge!  It is practical and unromantic, but a very empowering approach which has been the cornerstone of my private practice and is the fundamental message of The Breastfeeding Salon.

I invite you to join me over the next 30 days.  Your input and questions will be most welcome.  There is strength in numbers!

Retro breastfeeding…now there’s a concept.  It could be viewed in many ways, both positive and negative.

Retro is a prefix from the Latin meaning backwards.  Retro, in the common vernacular, refers to the way things were.  Be it a noun, adjective or adverb it describes something from the past. 

For purposes of this post I am drawing on an expanded definition found in Wikipedia, ”a term used to describe, denote or classify culturally outdated or aged trends, modes, or fashions, from the overall postmodern past, but have since that time become functionally or superficially the norm once again.”

Breastfeeding has been around since the dawn of time.  It is the way human babies were meant to be nurtured after birth.  Nonetheless, it fell out of fashion in the 20′th century. 

You could say that the first wave of Retro breastfeeding began with La Leche League in the late 1950’s.  Against much resistance, mothers banded together to support one another and breastfeed their babies.  They were viewed as reactionaries as they seemed opposed to the progress offered by the medical model of birth and childrearing that relied on the drugs and formulas of big Pharma.  Going back to the “basics” was their call to action.

In 1985, the inception of the allied health profession of Lactation Consulting, born out of  La Leche League roots,  fanned the flames of that Retro breastfeeding comeback.  The job of the IBCLC’s (International Board Certified Lactation Consultants) was cut out for them.  In those days, breastfeeding meant timed feedings and supplementation with water or formula.  Those consultants entered in to the fray and began working to change the standards of practice in Western hospitals.  They set out to educate and support women so that breastfeeding would be the rule rather than the exception.   At first there was resistance from some in the medical community who were accustomed to managing infant feeding by manipulating formula intake.   Gradually it became politically incorrect to advocate against breastfeeding.

As we approach the 25′th Anniversary of Lactation Consulting as a profession we are entering yet another wave of Retro breastfeeding.  However, this one merely pays lip service to what began in La Leche and the early days of lactation consulting.   It is a weird amalgam of dogma and old practices, that fundamentally do not support breastfeeding,  blended with touches of tech and pseudo-science.

What is most ridiculous and ironic is that this latest version of Retro breastfeeding can be traced to the the practice of many lactation consultants. Those that have begun to rely too heavily on managing pumps and gadgets and less on the art and skill of breastfeeding have changed the focus from breastfeeding to human milk feeding.

Give me the music any day, but spare me this techno version of breastfeeding from the 1970’s!