The Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog

Blog Action Day: How breastfeeding fights poverty.

Welcome to this month's special Carnival of Breastfeeding/Blog Action Day post!

Our regular bloggers have teamed up with Blog Action Day to bring you posts on the topic of poverty.  Tens of thousands of blogs will feature posts on this year's topic.  Check out the other contributing bloggers below, and at Blog Action Day.

For my part, I'm writing about how breastfeeding in the developing world fights poverty, and ways you can help. 

So, how does breastfeeding fight poverty here and in the developing world?

Breastfeeding fights disease in impoverished regions.  As you know, breastfeeding provides critical support against many diseases, and it is nowhere more important than in the developing world.  This quote, from James P. Grant, former executive director of UNICEF, says it far better than I can:

Breastfeeding is a natural "safety net" against the worst effects of poverty. If the child survives the first month of life (the most dangerous period of childhood) then for the next four months or so, exclusive breastfeeding goes a long way toward canceling out the health difference between being born into poverty and being born into affluence .... It is almost as if breastfeeding takes the infant out of poverty for those first few months in order to give the child a fairer start in life and compensate for the injustice of the world into which it was born.

Purchasing formula can drive families into poverty.  Breastfeeding is free.  Formula can bankrupt an already poor family.  In the Philippines, a small can of formula is equivalent to a day's worth of work for a minimum-wage earning parent.   This forces some parents into choosing between feeding their babies and feeding themselves or older children.  Or they make the dangerous decision to dilute the formula to stretch it further, and babies suffer as a result.

Breastfeeding helps control fertility in the developing world.  Breastfeeding is a primary way women in developing countries control their fertility.  This control over family size helps mothers provide better for the children they have.  Breastfeeding plays such an important role in fertility that La Leche League's Breastfeeding Answer Book cites an estimate that if all breastfeeding were to stop, within a year there would be a 20 to 30 percent rise in the birthrate worldwide.

Breastfeeding uses fewer natural resources.  As I've written before, breastfeeding uses far less natural resources than formula feeding.  The manufacture of formula leads to deforestation for cattle grazing, and uses resources for manufacturing, packaging, and transport.  Poor families in developing countries will be hard hit by the effects of global climate change.

Looking for a way to support breastfeeding directly in the developing world?  How about a "Breastfeeding Kit" from the Mercy Corps?  Here's what your support buys:

Breastfeeding has been called "a natural safety net against the worst effects of poverty."  But breastfeeding rates are alarmingly low in one place where that safety net is needed most: downtrodden neighborhoods in Jakarta — Indonesia's sprawling, 23-million-person capital.

The Breastfeeding Kit covers the cost to train a breastfeeding counselor to support mothers and their families at a neighborhood health clinic in Jakarta. Proceeds from the kit fund Mercy Corps' Healthy Start program, which works in 270 of Jakarta's poorest neighborhoods to protect and promote breastfeeding by:

• training health providers and clinics
• creating neighborhood support groups
• organizing awareness events
• lobbying policymakers

Of course, UNICEF also does incredible work supporting breastfeeding around the world, which is one of the reasons we'll be collecting change for them this Halloween. 

Check out these other posts for this special Carnival/Blog Action Day (updated throughout the day):

• Breastfeeding 1-2-3:  Five damaging myths about breastfeeding and poverty.
• Breastfeeding Mums:  How poverty of knowledge about breastfeeding hurts society.
• Babyfingers:  An ounce of prevention.
• Mama Knows Breast:  Breastfeeding can fight poverty.

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Podcast: Low milk supply - Could it be your hormones?

Here's a very special podcast for those of you who have struggled with low milk supply.  I was thrilled to be able to record this interview with Lisa Marasco, IBCLC, on maternal hormonal issues and milk supply.

As a lactation consultant I see mothers who seem to have all the right 'equipment' and have done all the right things, and yet they struggle terribly with low milk supply.  In the back of my head I often wonder if hormonal component to the problem, but there is little to go on.

Last year I saw Lisa speak at a breastfeeding conference and was blown away by her presentation on the many ways in which our hormones - such as thyroid hormones, prolactin levels, insulin, hormones involved in PCOS, infertility, maternal aging, and many others - can affect milk supply, and the small but emerging base of research on these topics. 

Lisa is co-author of a book I'm dying to get my hands on:  The Breastfeeding Mother's Guide to Making More Milk.  She wrote the section on hormonal causes of low milk supply, among others. 

You can listen to this podcast using the player below, or download it from our iTunes store.

I interviewed Lisa's co-author, Diana West, for a podcast on common causes of low milk supply and strategies for increasing supply.  You can listen to the podcast in streaming audio here, and donwnload it at our iTunes store.

Podcast:  Low milk supply - could it be your hormones?

Two notes before you listen: First, this is a long one.  I just couldn't cut it down.  Second, it's pretty "techie" at points.  You can handle it, but I thought I'd warn you so you won't be surprised.

And for those of you who are interested in the effects of environmental toxins on different aspects of our health, please listen in at the end - skip to 36:40.  I won't forget the study she describes anytime soon.

Hope you enjoy this one!  More podcasts are here and at our iTunes store.

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Win a Motherwear bamboo logo tee in October's 25th anniversary contest.

It's time for another 25th anniversary contest!

This month you can win a Motherwear logo tee made from soft, sustainable bamboo fabric. 

The eggplant colored shirt says, "breastfeeding - better for mom, baby, and planet." 

The peridot colored shirt has an image of bamboo, with the phrase "breastfeeding...what could be more natural?" 

You can see more images of the designs here.

Both are nursing shirts (of course), in the front-only underlayer design. 

To enter, leave a comment below by October 20th, 2008 telling me that you're a subscriber to the blog, or podcasts, or both!  If you aren't yet a subscriber, you can do so  by email or RSS feed.  To subscribe to the podcast feed on iTunes, go to our iTunes store. Then leave a comment telling me that you've subscribed!

Be sure to leave a 'real' email address so I can contact you if you've won.  The winner will be notified by email (no announcement made on the blog).  U.S. addresses only, please.

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What makes mothers 13 times less likely to breastfeed for at least 6 weeks?

A study just released in Pediatrics is just fascinating to me.

The study looked at new national data from the CDC's Infant Feeding Practices Study II.  It found that, if mothers didn't receive get care reflecting "Baby Friendly" policies, such as initiating breastfeeding within an hour after birth, feeding breastmilk only, and not using pacifiers, they were about 13 times less likely to breastfeed for at least six weeks than mothers who received baby-friendly care.

13 times.

And what percentage of mothers received the right kind of care?  8.1 percent.

Someone cheer me up.

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Take Motherwear's survey and enter to win a $100 gift certificate.

Motherwear is running a quick survey, and if you complete it you're entered into a drawing for a $100 gift certificate.

Visit the survey site and be sure to leave contact information at the end.

And check out Motherwear's new Nursing Openings page, which shows how the different kinds of nursing openings work. 

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Breastfeeding? Have you had, or are you expecting to have a biopsy? We need you!

Picture this:  You're breastfeeding.  You notice a lump.  First maybe you think it's a plugged duct.  But then it doesn't go away, after many, many feedings.  You're worried about it, so you make an appointment with your doctor, who doesn't think it's related to breastfeeding.  She sends you for a mammogram, but you're told that you'll have to have weaned for six months before the test can be done.  What do you do?*

I've mentioned before that I'm involved in a powerful research project based at the University of Massachusetts, and supported by the Love/Avon Army of Women breast cancer project.

I'd like to explain more about it now, and ask for your help in recruiting participants for it.

It's probably news to most of us (it was to me) that when you make milk, cells from your milk ducts are exfoliated off in the process.  These are called epithelial cells, and they're detectable in your milk.

Past research has demonstrated that long before we notice a lump, those epithelial cells start changing in ways that are precursors to the development of breast cancer. 

Dr. Kathleen Arcaro, a UMass professor who studies breastfeeding and breast cancer risk wants to analyze those cells.  She's been nice enough to visit a breastfeeding group I run, and answer questions about breastfeeding and breast cancer.

The primary goal of her research is to determine if it's possible to create a non-invasive, early way of assessing our breast cancer risk through our breastmilk.  If it's successful, it would also establish 'molecular biomarkers' for breast cancer risk. 

An additional benefit to breastfeeding mothers is that we would not be told, as some are, to wean before a mammogram or biopsy can be done.  No more choosing between breastfeeding and a breast cancer test.  It could be as simple and sending in a milk sample to a lab!

In order to conduct this research, Dr. Kathleen Arcaro needs to find 250 women who are both lactating and have either had, or are expecting to have, a biopsy.  To participate, you'd overnight milk samples to her lab, at no cost to you, and receive $25 in thanks.

So if you, or someone you know, is both breastfeeding and scheduled for a biopsy, please ask them to email either Dr. Sarah Lennington as soon as possible.  You can visit the project's website to learn more.

If you write a blog or are in contact with lots of moms on a forum, please pass this link around!

And if you haven't done it yet, register for the Love/Avon Army of Women.  You'll join one million women volunteering to become part of a rich pool of women researchers can use to find the causes and prevention of breast cancer.  You can see other participating studies on the site.  Here's a recent Today Show clip on the project.

* Mammograms can be done on lactating breasts, but they are viewed as less accurate than on non-lactating breasts.  Some doctors will do them, others require mothers to wean first.  Some send mothers for ultrasounds.

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I scream, you scream...

I'm late in posting about the PETA/Ben and Jerry's story, and was thinking of skipping it altogether until a friend emailed me a great reason to write about it.

So, you've all probably heard that, after a Swiss restaurant announced that they'd be featuring items made with human milk, PETA called on Ben and Jerry's to substitute human milk for cow's milk in their ice cream.  Those guys sure know now to capture people's attention! 

A friend then emailed to tell me that she'd heard the story discussed on a morning radio show.  The hosts had come up with some possible new ice cream flavors, which included Vanillactate, Heath Bra Crunch, Yummy Mummy, and Chocolate Nip Cookie Dough.   It's been a long week, and I needed that.  Thanks, Beth!

If you're wondering about the image to the right, it's an Ad Council poster funded by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  It says, "Breastfeed for six months. You may reduce your child's risk of obesity."  Here are links to a pdf version which you can print out, and others in that series.  Little did they know...

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Join the Quintessence Breastfeeding Challenge.

Have any plans for October 11th at 11:00 am?

How about participating in the Quintessence Foundation's 2008 Breastfeeding Challenge?  Families will gather at sites in Canada, the U.S., and around the world will to latch babies on and demonstrate support for the protection and promotion of breastfeeding.  Last year there were 230 sites, with over 5,000 happy, happy babies. 

You can find a list of sites in your country here.  So far there are only a few in the U.S., but you can certainly start one up!

Picture at left is of the 2006 Montreal challenge site, courtesy of the Quintessence Foundation.

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Join the next Carnival and Blog Action Day: Breastfeeding and Poverty

Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

Our next Carnival will be timed to coincide with Blog Action Day, an initiative to bring bloggers and others together to focus on important topics.  This year the theme is poverty.

We settled on this topic a little late, so start thinking now!  Submissions are due on October 11th, and the Carnival/Blog Action Day is on October 15th.

As usual, we'll be looking for posts that are:

• Well written and grammatically correct
• Thoughtful and directly related to the carnival subject
• Submitted from blogs related to breastfeeding or parenting

Email me your submission by October 11th, 2008.  The carnival will be on October 15th, 2008.  Please note that, if your post is selected for inclusion by our regular group of bloggers, you will be asked to link to each of the other participants in the carnival.  We reserve the right to choose posts for inclusion.  Examples of past carnival posts can be found here.

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