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According to Superfood for Babies, a new report by Save the Children, 830,000 babies could be saved if all women breastfed in the first hour of life and exclusively breastfed for six months could save even more. The report explains breastfeeding is the world’s most effective solution to reduce child deaths, but globally rates have stagnated at below 40 percent for two decades.
Recently 24 moms from around the world shared their personal breastfeeding stories every hour for 24 hours to spread the word. When you look at all the different stories, lack of support was a theme Jennifer James, contributor to Huffington Post, noticed.
The report highlighted the same challenge. Lisa Selin Davis, contributor to Time.com says, “When women have trouble breastfeeding, they are often confronted with two divergent directives: Well-meaning lactation consultants urge them to try harder, while some doctors might advise them to simply give up and go the bottle-and-formula route.”
One mom said, “As I sat in the nursery trying to breastfeed for the first time, a nurse stood over me. My daughter had trouble latching on, in turn, causing frustration and tension between the nurse and me. Breastfeeding was a lot more difficult than I expected. Things didn't get better.”
Another mom said after her son was born she had trouble getting him to latch. “The lactation consultant at the hospital wasn’t all that helpful and the nurses made me feel like I was going to starve him to death if I didn’t feed him.” She ended up giving her son a bottle, but tried breastfeeding again to no avail.
And yet another mom said, “My first daughter was born in 2005. I tried to breastfeed but broke down and cried in hospital on the second day, there was no one there to advise me on how to go about it.”
Besides lack of support, the Superfood for Babies report says moms face three significant barriers to successful breastfeeding: Other barriers include family pressures, cultural beliefs the colostrum, or first milk, is dirty, and lack of supportive workplace policies.
Carolyn Miles breaks down these barriers in a blog post on Impatient Optimists. We talked recently about the importance of support for moms who breastfeed and we urge everyone to do their part. If moms want to breastfeed, it helps when the community has her back. A little support goes a long way.