The Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog

Give away: Ameda "Beauty of Breastfeeding" Calendars

I'm happy to be able to give away five "Beauty of Breastfeeding" calendars, created by Ameda.*

They're full of great breastfeeding images which you'll want to put up everywhere!  These are 2009/2010 calendars.

And pssst...I'll be doing a full week of give-aways next week.  Stay tuned.

To enter to win a calendar, leave a comment below by February 12, 2010.  One entry per person.  U.S. addresses only, please.  Winners will be chosen using random.org and announced in the comments section of this post.  *I have not received any free products from Ameda in association with this contest.

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So, I've been keeping a little something from you...

Due mid-June, a girl!

New WIC breastfeeding package rewards exclusive breastfeeding

I'm pleased to share a guest post today by Rachel Colchamiro, Director of Nutrition Services, and Breastfeeding Coordinator for the state of Massachusetts. 

I asked Rachel to write about the new package of benefits for breastfeeding moms participating in the WIC, the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children.

As you'll see, some recent changes make it especially beneficial to breastfeed exclusively.

This past October, WIC programs across the country rolled out the first major changes to WIC foods in 34 years! 

The changes are exciting.  Families can now receive fruits, vegetables, whole grains and baby food as well as stronger support for breastfeeding. 

From the wonderful feelings that nursing brings—to the long list of illnesses that breastfeeding protects against for both infants and their mothers—nothing compares to breastfeeding.  WIC knows that breastfeeding is the best choice for most families.

To get breastfeeding off to the best possible start, the new WIC food package strongly encourages exclusive breastfeeding.   Since giving formula in the early weeks may prevent mothers from making enough breast milk, WIC helps protect a mother’s milk supply by not offering formula to breastfed babies in the first month of life. 

In turn, fully breastfeeding mothers receive a greater variety and amount of foods than anyone else participating in the program.  Fully breastfed infants receive more than twice the amount of baby foods than formula-fed babies from six months of age until their first birthday.  Throughout an infant’s first year of life, the new WIC benefits are greater for women who choose to offer their babies more breastmilk than formula.

WIC is so much more than a food program.  Families receiving WIC benefits receive nutrition education, health assessment and referrals in addition to their checks for healthy foods.  During pregnancy and after babies are born, WIC offers a wide variety of free breastfeeding services.  Families can always come to WIC with questions about feeding babies and for breastfeeding support.  Many WIC programs offer mother-to-mother breastfeeding peer counseling and some even provide access to breast pumps. 

For more information about the WIC program and the new food packages, please call 1-800-WIC-1007 or visit the national WIC website.

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Breastmilk donations for Haiti not being used.

Reflecting the chaotic environment for aid in earthquake devastated Haiti, the urgent call for breastmilk donations issued by a number of organizations last week appears to no longer be valid. 

Late last week the several health agencies issued a statement calling for a halt to the breastmilk shipments being sent to Haiti, and a Navy spokesman indicated that milk sent for use aboard the USS Comfort hasn't been used.  

Time Magazine reports:

Through a complicated chain of communication involving various members of Congress, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and breast-feeding organizations galore, the Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA) dispatched two coolers' worth of donated breast milk to Haitian preemies being cared for on the U.S.S. Comfort, the floating hospital anchored near Port-au-Prince. "The fact that there is a doctor on board this ship who understands the importance of breast milk is just amazing," says Amanda Nickerson, executive director of the International Breast Milk Project, which arranged the shipment of 140 3-oz. bottles of milk. Quick International Courier, a New York City–based firm that specializes in out-of-the-ordinary cargo, handled as a pro bono matter the delivery, which involved dry ice and rapid-fire transfers between Southwest Airlines, a charter flight and finally a military helicopter.

The HMBANA cargo supplements what is likely the world's only nautical milk bank. When one of the pediatricians on board the Comfort, Dr. Erika Beard Irvine, realized that she had only three cases of formula upon arrival, she connected with breast-feeding Navy moms who had deployed and didn't know what to do with their breast milk. Beard Irvine is storing their pumped milk in the ship's freezers and feeding it to the babies under her care, including one preemie born on board.

...In the U.S., milk banks rigorously screen donors, then pasteurize, process and freeze their milk before distribution. When it's shipped to sick babies across the country, it's nestled in dry ice. Unrefrigerated, breast milk — like cow's milk — turns rancid.

That's why the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the United Nations World Food Programme issued a joint statement Jan. 21 that the necessary infrastructure isn't yet in place to utilize donated breast milk on the Haitian mainland.

MSNBC reports:

But the staff on the U.S. Navy ship [Comfort] said they haven't used the milk out of concerns raised by OFDA and other agencies. Mothers aboard the Comfort are urged to nurse their own babies and there’s infant formula available to children whose mothers cannot or will not breast-feed, said Lt. David Shark, a U.S. Navy spokesman.

I understand why it doesn't make sense to send donor milk to the mainland at this point, but I'm a little confused about why donations sent to the Comfort can't be used.  The babies aboard the Comfort must be at at least a high a risk of potentially fatal complications like necrotizing enterocolitis as babies in the U.S. (see this video on how breastmilk prevents it, and this post on the cost of treating a case).  Then again, maybe I shouldn't be too surprised.  There are plenty of U.S. hospitals that don't use donor milk in the NICUs, and an emergency is probably a difficult time to convince people of its safety and value.

I also hope that this doesn't put a damper on the resurgence of interest in donor milk banking.  Our milk banks have been experiencing a decline in donations due to H1N1, and they are still needed in many areas to help domestic hospitals care for their premature and critically ill patients.

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