Partnerships to Support Breastfeeding
New parents are often overwhelmed with an endless stream of medical advice. One message in particular is repeated across hospitals, birthing classes and pediatrician offices: breastfeed, if you are able.
Breastfeeding is widely considered the best option for infant nutrition, and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a baby’s life. Breast milk contains nutrients and antibodies that can lower risks of infection, childhood obesity, allergies and disease. Approximately 84 percent of women in the United States begin breastfeeding initially, but rates drop quickly between three and 12 months postpartum. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that only 1 in every 3 babies is exclusively breastfed for the first six months.
Although many view breastfeeding as simply an individual choice, the reality is that social and economic circumstances can play a significant role—often making breastfeeding harder or even impossible for some families. In addition to the physical or medical difficulties women experience, which can include low milk production, latching difficulties, infection and exhaustion, many families lack the support they need to maintain breastfeeding.
“A person's ability to initiate and continue breastfeeding is shaped by factors like access to workplace accommodations, maternity care practices, community supports, healthcare access and economic stability,” said Sanaa Akbarali, senior director of maternal and child health for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO). “When those supports are absent, breastfeeding becomes significantly more difficult.”
Recognizing these challenges, in 2018, ASTHO partnered with 16 state health agencies through its Breastfeeding State Learning Community to help strengthen breastfeeding support across these jurisdictions. Akbarali shared insights from this five-year effort during a recent webinar, Partnerships to Support Breastfeeding. The event was hosted by the CDC Foundation’s Hunger, Nutrition and Health Action Collaborative to bring together organizations working at the local, state and national levels to address critical issues around food access and nutrition. Akbarali was joined by Erin Van Denburgh, program administrator with the New York State Department of Health, which supports organizations across five regions of the state through the Breastfeeding, Chest feeding, and Lactation Friendly New York (BFFNY) program to talk about state-level solutions.
Both speakers emphasized the importance of collaboration across healthcare systems, public health agencies, community organizations and employers to create a coordinated support system around families.
“When you're in the hospital, you get a lot of great lactation care,” Van Denburgh said. “That support can really fall off very quickly once you are discharged, and you're on your own.”
Often the question is not whether parents want to breastfeed, but whether the conditions are in place to support their success. “We saw several states work to strengthen continuity of care,” Akbarali said. “Creating referral pathways that connect families leaving the hospital to community lactation support—peer counselors, doulas and home visiting programs.”
Sustaining breastfeeding can be especially challenging when parents return to work. In New York, several of the BFFNY partner organizations evaluate work sites and provide tailored technical assistance to help employers improve conditions for breastfeeding workers.
“We really need those real life supports…building those lactation friendly workplaces, normalizing breastfeeding,” said Van Denburgh. “Making sure that there is a private space that is not a bathroom for someone to pump, access to running water, power, things like that.” Equally important is an employer’s awareness of the boundaries, time and commitment required to sustain breastfeeding. For example, women may need to pump several times a day or at very specific intervals. Success requires cooperation and understanding.
Throughout the webinar, the speakers made clear that supporting breastfeeding takes a community-wide effort.
“It’s a public health issue,” Akbarali said. “And we're seeing more organizations from public health to healthcare to nutrition to workforce, really coming together around shared goals.”
Watch the full webinar Partnerships to Support Breastfeeding.
To learn more and register for upcoming Cultivating Connections webinars, visit impacthunger.org.
