ONLY 47% OF MOTHERS CONTINUE TO BREASTFEED AT SIX MONTHS: HOW TO ACHIEVE PROLONGED BREASTFEEDING

The World Health Organization (WHO) advises feeding infants with breast milk during the first six months of life and prolonging breastfeeding as a complement to solid feeding up to two years or more.

In Spain, according to data from the National Health Survey published in 2018, at six months only 2 of every 5 children (43%) continue to feed exclusively on breast milk.

Supporting the mother is a key measure to prolong breastfeeding, how many benefits it has for the child. But there is more, as the motto of the World Breastfeeding Week 2019 says: 'Let's empower ourselves, let's make breastfeeding possible!'

Causes that cause early abandonment of breastfeeding

The social and labor barriers that mothers face, especially due to the reduction in time due to return to work after maternity leave, are one of the main reasons that cause premature abandonment of breastfeeding in our country, some figures similar to the world average.

Thus, three out of four women (72%) breastfeed during the first month and a half after delivery, a figure that is reduced by six points at three months (66%), which means that one in three mothers who opted for breastfeeding leaves. At six months the decline is even more significant: only 47% of mothers continue to breastfeed their babies.

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Hence, World Breastfeeding Week 2019 seeks to achieve prolactance policies and legislation, support for maternity by companies, and implementation of equitable social norms related to gender equality, such as teamwork between mothers and their partners, to prolong breastfeeding and thus benefit infants and mothers.

Because, as UNICEF says improving breastfeeding rates worldwide could save the lives of 820,000 children under five years of age annually, 87% of them under six months.

In the same sense, Medela is shown, by ensuring that the empowerment of the mother and receiving support from her immediate environment contributes to increasing breastfeeding rates, improving the health status of the baby.

When the mother feels safe and has adequate means, she is more likely to continue breastfeeding beyond the first few months.

Keys to achieve prolonged breastfeeding

Medela, in her support for the empowerment of women, in the framework of World Breastfeeding Week, gives us the guidelines to foster greater confidence of mothers in the chosen parenting model and the prolongation of breastfeeding.

1. Involve the mother's environment

Supporting breastfeeding not only reports health benefits for the mother and the baby, it also helps mothers feel safe to breastfeed.

Therefore, it is essential that the mother's environment, from her partner to the healthcare staff, be involved in the creation of adequate and positive environments for breastfeeding.

It is essential to have informed doctors and nurses, with communication and empathy skills, who advise mothers and their families about breastfeeding and support them in the decision to breastfeed the baby.

On a practical level, the couple and the mother's environment can learn how to help in breastfeeding, especially when the woman returns to work, cannot breastfeed the baby or needs time for personal fulfillment and rest.

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Help prolong it:

Extract breast milk using a manual or electric breast pump. It makes it easier for other people to feed babies and get involved in their care.
Freeze the milk, so that the baby can drink it at any time. The extracted milk retains most of its health benefits for the little ones, however, good hygiene must be maintained to ensure the safety of the baby. The best option is not to leave the milk in the freezer for more than 6 months, although it can last up to 9 months if it has been extracted under conditions of maximum cleaning.
Offer it with specific breastfeeding bottles, to prevent the baby from rejecting it because he prefers mom's breast.

2. Personalized support of lactation consultants

Breastfeeding consultants provide personalized support to each mother, providing them with information so that they feel safe with the parenting model they have chosen, decide if they want to pump milk to feed the newborns and help them cope with possible grip problems, bad execution, stress, among others.

The support of the consultants also helps mothers fight false expectations regarding breastfeeding and cope with the judgment of third parties. Given the pressure that can be exerted on mothers, the consultants praise their work and applaud every step they take, seeking to create a climate of trust in which they feel confident.

The benefits of breastfeeding are the pillars of a person's health throughout his life.

Breastfed babies have less hospital admissions and, if they occur, are shorter and suffer less infectious diseases, which results in savings for the family economy and public administrations.

In addition, mothers also benefit from breastfeeding, which protects them against breast and ovarian cancer, and reduces their risk of osteoporosis.

So in the World Breastfeeding Week, we want to claim breast milk as a natural way of feeding babies, so it is important to make visible the social problems that exist and that force the mother to wean earlier than desired. And in this sense, support is essential.

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