International Baby Food Action Network

Call for support for appropriate infant and young child feeding in Haiti

UNICEF, WHO and WFP call for support for appropriate infant and young child feeding in the current emergency, and caution about unnecessary and potentially harmful donations and use of breast-milk substitutes

During emergency situations, disease and death rates among under-five children are higher than for any other age group; the younger the infant the higher the risk. Mortality risk is particularly high because of the combined impact of a greatly increased prevalence of communicable diseases and diarrhoea and soaring rates of under-nutrition. Appropriate feeding and care of infants and young children is essential to preventing malnutrition, morbidity and mortality. Read More

Breastfeeding protects your baby from gastrointestinal trouble, respiratory problems, and ear infections

Numerous studies from around the world have shown that diarrhea, lower respiratory illnesses, and ear infections happen less often in breastfed babies, and are less severe when they do occur. Exclusive breastfeeding (meaning no solid food) for at least six months seems to offer the most protection.

Researchers have found that immune factors that are present in colostrum (the first milk your body produces) guard against invading germs by forming a protective layer on your baby's mucous membranes in his intestines, nose, and throat. The main immune factor at work here is secretory IgA (immunoglobulin A). It's present in large amounts in colostrum — which is why it's important to start nursing your baby right after birth — but is also found in lower concentrations in mature milk.

Breastfeeding may also protect your baby from developing inflammatory bowel disease later in life. Several studies have documented a link between a lack of breastfeeding in infancy and later development of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

The global Breastfeeding Initiative for Child Survival (gBICS)

The gBICS is a worldwide civil society-driven initiative aiming to accelerate progress in attaining the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, especially Goal 4, reduction of child mortality, by scaling up early, exclusive and continued breastfeeding.

The gBICS can be portrayed as the process of building a house that sets in motion the realisation of the rights of children to the highest attainable standard of health by protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding. The idea is to represent a home where breastfeeding is successfully and naturally practiced.

Breastfeeding may reduce your risk of some types of cancer

Numerous studies have found that the longer women breastfeed, the more they're protected against breast and ovarian cancer. For breast cancer, nursing for at least a year appears to have the most protective effect. It's not entirely clear how breastfeeding helps, but structural changes in breast tissue caused by breastfeeding and the fact that lactation suppresses the amount of estrogen your body produces may play roles. Researchers think the effect on ovarian cancer may be related to estrogen suppression as well.

World Breastfeeding Week 1-7 Aug 2010

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