Breastfeeding has been very important to me. I feel that breast-feeding is a way to bond, nourish,
and aid in my child's development. Breast milk
has been proved to have natural antibiotics that keep infants healthier. “Breast
milk has the perfect combination of proteins, fats, vitamins, and
carbohydrates. There is nothing better
for the health of your baby. Leukocytes
are living cells that are only found in breast milk. They help fight infection. The antibodies, living cells, enzymes, and
hormones make breast milk ideal. These
cannot be added to formula” (American Pregnacy Association,
2013) . I was told how important breast-feeding was
before I even got pregnant. My husband completely
heartily believed that kids that breast-fed were smarter. I am not sure that is 100% correct, but in
his experience, it was true. I was so
nervous that I was not going to be able to do it that I read many books on the
subject before giving birth. I realized
when trying to breast feed it is all about being calm, patient, and drinking a lot
of water. Pressure is the evil of breast-feeding;
you do better when you do not worry so much.
I feel that my children have developed a bond with me and a secure
connection with me partly due to breast-feeding. Often time’s women switch to formula because
they cannot see how much their child is eating and feel uncomfortable with that. More women need to continue to breast feed
until a lactation specialist or doctor tells them to supplement. Interestingly you can now buy breast milk
online from milk banks, I even had a friend sell to a milk bank and later a
friend buy from a milk bank. Breast milk
is so healthy for our babies. I will support mothers within my daily work by providing support and media to educate mothers about breast-feeding and its benefits. Additionally, I will provide an area for mothers to breast feed.
I did not look at one country and their
culture on Breast-feeding. I found the WBTI,
which stands for World Breastfeeding Trend Initiative. This initiative goes out worldwide to train,
assist, and promote breast-feeding in at least 100 countries by 2012. In 2012, they fell short, but had reached 88 Countries. Below is bullet points about their mission. 
What is WBTi:
- Participatory,
action oriented simple research
- Tracking,
Assessing and Monitoring (TAM) the implementation of Global Strategy for
IYCF
- Ensures
uniformity,
- Objective is to
reach about 100 countries by 2012.
The Need:
- The United
Nations Millennium Summit for MDGs – MDG 4 (2000)
- The Global
Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding (2002)
- WHA Resolution -
Each country urged to develop, implement, monitor and evaluate a plan of
action on IYCF
- Innocenti
Declaration on IYCF (2005)
Basis:
- WABA’s GLOPAR
1993
- WHO’s tool
“Infant and Young Child Feeding : A tool for assessing national practices,
policies , and programs” (2003/4)
WBTi –How It Works?
- Phase one –
National assessment
- Phase two –
Ranking the country/region
- Phase three –
Reassessment to analyze trends
Indicators Part-I
1.
National
Policy Program and Coordination
2.
BFHI
3.
Implementation
of the Code
4.
Maternity
Protection
5.
Health
and Nutrition Care
6.
. Mother
Support and Community Outreach
7.
Information
Support
8.
Infant
feeding and HIV
9.
Infant
feeding during Emergencies
10. Monitoring
Indicators Part-II
11. Early Initiation Rates
12. Exclusive breastfeeding Rates <6months
13. Median duration of Breastfeeding
14. Bottle Feeding Rates
15. Timely Complementary feeding Rates
12. Exclusive breastfeeding Rates <6months
13. Median duration of Breastfeeding
14. Bottle Feeding Rates
15. Timely Complementary feeding Rates
What Goes in?
1.
Coordination
2.
Training/orientation
3.
Organizing
national consultations and discussions leading to national assessment
4.
Analyzing
and publishing the country report cards
5.
Compiling
and publishing state of world’s breastfeeding, nationally and regionally
6.
Publishing
results through WBTi web tool
7.
Follow up
and offer IBFAN services for capacity building in code implementation, planning
and facilitation, training of workers, and other program related to IYCF
8.
Advocacy
with the use of report cards at national, regional and global levels to gather
support in bridging gaps in program and policy
Hi Jocelyn
ReplyDeleteI agree with that breastfeeding is important for bonding with mother and child. It provide natural antibiotics that keep infants healthier. It also save money on buy formula.