Breast-feeding is best for you, your baby

By CPT Judith A. Marlowe, XVIII Abn Corps Public Affairs OfficeAugust 1, 2014

Breast-feeding is normal," said Jessica Callahan, resident nurse and international board certified lactation consultant at Maternity and Child Heath, Womack Army Medical Center.

During the first week of August, WAMC is celebrating, along with the rest of the world, International Breast-Feeding Week. The theme this year is "Breastfeeding: Scoring the Winning Goal for Life."

According to Callahan, About 90 to 95 percent of pregnant women who give birth at Womack decide they want to breast-feed while pregnant and out of that percentage, 80 to 85 percent are exclusively breast-feeding when they leave the hospital. These rates have increased from 40 percent in the two years.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breast-feeding for six months before introducing solids, and then breast-feeding until the baby is a year old. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention also recommends exclusive breast-feeding for the first six months of life, but weaning a child at two years old.

"Formula is advertised that it is just as good as breast milk, but breast milk has about 955 more ingredients than formula in each serving," Callahan said.

According to Lt. Col. Helen A. Laquay, IBCLC at Womack, one of the main reasons women do not breast-feed is because they are not educated on all the reasons breast milk is best for mother and baby.

"If you formula feed your baby, your baby is more prone to ear infections, cancer, obesity ... and the list goes on. The mother can be at risk for many diseases as well if she does not breast-feed," Callahan said.

AAP states the benefits for breast-feeding include decreased postpartum bleeding, increased child spacing, earlier return to pre-pregnancy weight, decreased risk of breast and ovarian cancer, and possibly decreased risk of hip fractures and osteoporosis in the postmenopausal period.

Womack offers a breast-feeding class the first and third Wednesday of every month, at 1 to 3:30 p.m. at the Mother Baby Unit, 3rd floor, Room 329. All moms are welcome to attend as long as they have TRICARE, even if they did not deliver their baby at WAMC.

Currently, the Army is the only branch of military service that does not have an official policy for breast-feeding month, but in AR 614-30 Deployment (Table 3-1 #33), it states "Soldiers will be considered available for worldwide deployment six months after giving birth."

There are examples of memos for breast-feeding Soldiers to give to their commander to make the transition of returning to work way smoother.

There is also a book written for military women and breast-feeding called, "Breast-feeding in Combat Boots" by Robyn Roche-Paull, RN, BSN, IBCLC, LLLL. This book can help women develop a plan for breast-feeding once they return to work and/or how to deal with breast-feeding and going to the field or a deployment.

Womack's lactation consultants follow the 10 steps to successful breast-feeding found on the North Carolina Nutrition Services Branch's website. They are:

1. Have a written breast-feeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff;

2. Train all health care staff in skills necessary to implement this policy;

3. Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breast-feeding;

4. Help all mothers initiate breast-feeding within one hour of birth;

5. Show mothers how to breast-feed and how to maintain lactation even if they should be separated from their infants;

6. Give newborns no food or drink other than breast milk, unless medically indicated;

7. Practice rooming-in that allows mothers and infants to remain together 24 hours a day;

8. Encourage breast-feeding on demand;

9. Give no artificial teats or pacifiers; and

10. Foster the establishment of breast-feeding support groups and refer mothers to them upon discharge from the hospital or clinic.

"The WAMC Maternal Child Health Team has made great strides toward increasing our breast-feeding rates. During this week we would like to celebrate and thank the MCH care team for the quality breast-feeding care they have adopted and incorporated into their practice while achieving two stars toward the North Carolina Maternity Center Breast-feeding-Friendly Designation from the North Carolina Division of Public Health," Laquay said.

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