Protecting Breastfeeding in Haiti

Link here.

It is common for women to believe that there will be a problem with their milk after a natural disaster, that the stress, or lack of adequate nutrition will make their milk “bad” or somehow unsuitable for their babies. In fact, the human body will provide milk for an infant even when the mother is malnourished.

And with the influx of foreign aid comes powdered infant formula (PIF, sometimes referred to as artificial baby milk or ABM), with the inference that this is better for the baby than what the mother is already providing.

And in a disaster, where there is a lack of clean water, giving a mother powdered infant formula often means she has to make it up with dirty water, leading not only to introducing infections to the infant, but by depriving her of breastmilk, she is also deprived of a natural defence against life threatening diseases.

In normal circumstances, breastfeeding needs to be protected. In a disaster, it is vital.

2 thoughts on “Protecting Breastfeeding in Haiti”

  1. I watched Ponyo on the weekend. you will be pleased to note that it promotes breastfeeding in a disaster situation. Obliquely, anyway.

    Like

  2. I know a woman in Sydney whose son was BORN in Auschwitz and is a healthy man also living here. How she managed to feed him in that situation I’ve no idea but nature managed to produce enough food for his survival.

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