Category: Uncategorized

‘Let’s make breastfeeding work – optimal maternity leave and workplace accommodations support an environment that enables breastfeeding’

August 1-7th marks the World Breastfeeding Week. The theme is ‘Let’s make breastfeeding and work, work!’ The benefit of breastfeeding to health, the economy, work and the environment is widely documented. However, the UK remains one of the countries in the world with the lowest breastfeeding rate. Although 81% of mothers set out to breastfeed, only 1% of babies in the UK are still exclusively breastfed at 6 months. The question has always been why is breastfeeding rate so low in the UK? 

Photo credit: Dr Paige E. Davis

Return to work is one of the key barriers to breastfeeding especially where the workplace is not breastfeeding friendly. A study published in 2007 by the Cohort Group found that mothers employed part-time or self-employed were more likely to breast-feed for at least 4 months than those employed full-time. The longer a mother delayed her return to work postpartum, the more likely she was to breast-feed for at least 4 months. Mothers were more likely to breastfeed for at least 4 months if their employer offered family-friendly or flexible work arrangements, or they received Statutory Maternity Pay plus additional pay during their maternity leave rather than Statutory Maternity Pay alone. This demonstrated that return to work could have a negative impact on breastfeeding if the mother is not properly supported. 

Currently the UK does not have a legal framework that protects and promote breastfeeding in the workplace. The 1001 critical days strategy is there but does not have a legal backing to ensure that mothers are properly supported to continue breastfeeding should they choose to return to work early. A general assumption is made that mothers would take the full 52 weeks of maternity leave even though the leave is not properly paid.  Mothers returning to work find it challenging to understand what they can and cannot do. 

Though many employers are quick to showcase how family friendly they are in supporting working parents, breastfeeding remains an area in need of significant improvement. This is predominantly because the government has failed to recognise the benefits of breastfeeding and has failed to embed it in the current family friendly rights. Ideally, maternity leave should naturally go with a workplace breastfeeding policy. Other family friendly policies such as shared parental leave is not achieving its desired impact partly because of the lack of breastfeeding support in the workplace. 

Mothers who intend to breastfeed for long may not share their maternity leave with their partners if support is not in place in the workplace.

These challenges were clearly articulates in the breastfeeding documentary titled ‘Breastfeeding: Not on the Agenda’which was followed by a call to action for the government to include breastfeeding in the family friendly rights to Make Breastfeeding and Work, Work.

NOTE from the WBTi team:

This petition incorporates many of the WBTi recommendations for action:

  • Embed breastfeeding in the school curriculum and relevant health  professionals training.
  • Provide a policy on breastfeeding in the workplace which will protect the rights of breastfeeding mothers in the workplace.
  • Mandate all large public places like shopping malls, community centres, public libraries, museums, etc to provide breastfeeding rooms or spaces.
  • Fully adopt The Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes to protect babies and their families from harmful commercial influences and undermining of breastfeeding for commercial profit; and to protect families who formula feed from the escalating costs of premium brands.
  • Provide adequate 24/7 specialist lactation support in maternity services to actively counteract the culture of formula top-ups in hospitals; and to enable human donor milk to be more accessible as an option when mother’s milk is not immediately available.
  • Guarantee a sustained funding support to breastfeeding organisations who play a key part in supporting mothers.
  • Include breastfeeding support on the Net Zero Environmental Agenda.

Dr Ernestine Gheyoh Ndzi is the Associate Dean for Law and Police Studies at York St John University. Her research interest lies in Company Law and Employment Law. Ernestine has in the past four years been researching on shared parental leave and breastfeeding. Ernestine is a member of the Board of Trustees for The Breastfeeding Network. She is the producer of the breastfeeding documentary titled ‘Breastfeeding: Not on the Agenda. She is running a 9-webinar series exploring the benefits and challenges of breastfeeding. She is also leading on the campaign for change to support breastfeeding in the UK.

The Defence Breastfeeding Network

The Defence Breastfeeding Network

When you think of the UK Armed Forces, many of our minds will go to an infantry soldier fighting stoically on the battlefield, or perhaps bearskins guarding the King at the palace. Not many people think of breastfeeding mother. But we do have them.

The Defence Breastfeeding Network launched in June 2020, to support breastfeeding soldiers during their maternity and return to work phase. Initially, we started with a Facebook group for some community support. We then created a partnership with Families and Babies Lancashire, who train members of the DBN to become level 2 breastfeeding peer supporters. As a network, we have currently trained over 60 peer supporters who give back to our members but also in their own communities. A project the DBN is currently working on is the establishment of breastfeeding/ wellness rooms within our infrastructure. These rooms all have a lockable door, comfortable seating, access to fridge space, access to clean running water and electricity. Many of the rooms are made comfortable with extra facilities such as tea and coffee stations, TV’s/radios, microwaves and more, with credit to the individuals within units that set these rooms up for all to benefit from. These rooms are more than just set up for those that need it now, they’re set up for when they are needed in the future. As an organisation, the Armed Forces are setting an example that I would encourage every employer to follow. 

In 2021, the Defence Breastfeeding Policy was launched, providing clear and concise information for line managers on how to effectively manage and support breastfeeding mothers in the workplace, from risk assessments to medical gradings and through to deploying into a field environment which can mean living outside for extended periods of time. This does not mean we are sending breastfeeding mothers away from their children for months on end with little notice but takes into account the fact that we are soldiers, aviators and sailors. Gone are the days where women were dismissed from the military for being pregnant, and now as an organisation we are aiming to be proactive with breastfeeding support rather than reactive. Service life isn’t always easy on the service person or their immediate family, and as a network, the DBN is there to be as much of a village as possible. Education is really important, and the DBN attends unit health events and gives briefings across the UK to raise awareness of policy and the networks existence, in order to create more allies within the Armed Forces. 

I have personally been on a field exercise (in the UK) with a manual breastpump in my bergen. It was handled wonderfully, I was able to take a small fridge to store my milk and was able to be transport it back to a freezer too. I was given the time, space and respect to express milk comfortably and was treated with dignity. I went on to feed my son for 2.5 years. 

So how do we make breastfeeding work? We need support. We need employers that are proactive and view mothers as an asset and not a hindrance. We need support from everyone else; our families, friends, and strangers in the street. And I’m proud to say that the Armed Forces is a great champion.

LCpl Natasha Day MBE joined the British Army in 2014 as a Combat Medical Technician, deploying to South Sudan and Kenya before studying to become a Paramedic in 2021. After the birth of her son Charlie, she established the Defence Breastfeeding Network (DBN) in 2020 to support members of the Armed Forces and their families in their breastfeeding journey. The DBN supports over 1300 families and has collectively opened 83 breastfeeding and wellness rooms across Defence infrastructure. Natasha is currently posted to the NHS as a Paramedic. 

Ready for Disaster? Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies in the UK and Europe

Ready for Disaster? Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies in the UK and Europe

‘Breastfeeding: Not on the Agenda’ Webinar series: ‘Ready for Disaster? Infant and young child feeding in emergencies in the UK and Europe’ will be presented today by Helen Gray, WBTi Joint Coordinator.
NOTE: this presentation is now available on YouTube

This week’s topic in the “Breastfeeding: Not on the Agenda” series of webinars is the importance of planning for the protection of infant and young child feeding in emergencies, right here in the UK.

Infants, young children, pregnant and breastfeeding women are among the most vulnerable in any emergency situation, but they are almost invisible in our national resilience planning.

In the UK, the 2016 WBTi report found that while there is national guidance on the care of farm animals, pets, zoo animals and circus animals in emergencies, but there is no mention of infants or young children. There is an assumption that parents will take all responsibility for their own family – but too often there are no guidelines or recommendations to help them to prepare or handle an emergency. 

Breastfeeding is a vital element in resilience and food security for families with infants: it provides immune protection and safe nutrition and fluids at any time, while providing both mother and child with comfort and resilience against stress. Skilled breastfeeding support is essential during emergencies, to enable breastfeeding dyads to continue.

In the UK, many infants are dependent on formula, which brings its own risks in an emergency. Infants who are not breastfed have reduced immunity to infections, in a situation where pathogens may be significantly increased due to contaminated water, or the crowding of evacuated families in rest centres. These infants depend on access to clean water, to a supply of suitable formula, and to hygienic preparation facilities and feeding equipment, and suitably trained support from responders and staff.

Local emergency planning in England and Wales is devolved to Local Resilience Forums (LRF). A recent study of LRF guidance for the public on emergency “grab bags,” by WBTi team member Patricia Wise, found that out of 42 LRF websites in England and Wales, only 27 even mention infant supplies, and 18 of those give only generic information rather than specific advice on what to pack for infants in an emergency.  Northern Ireland included a generic ‘special equipment for children’ in its grab bag recommendations.

It is not difficult to include these supplies, facilities and training in every local resilience plan – there are resources and model operational guidance on the Infant Feeding in Emergencies Core Group website.

  • Contact your Local Resilience Forum (LRF) and ask them what they include in their “grab-bag” lists and their planning for rest centres in case of evacuation.

The climate crisis is contributing to increased frequency and severity of natural disasters. The Australian Government recently funded a large research project, Babies and Young Children in the Black Summer (BiBS) Study, into the impact of the Black Summer Bushfires on families with infants and young children, conducted by the Australian Breastfeeding Association, Dr Michelle Hamrosi and Dr Karleen Gribble from Western Sydney University. One of the findings from this study was that parents with young children felt that they did not have the right information in time, that they needed extra preparation and extra time to evacuate. In fact, the title of the BiBS report is “Want to help the children? Help the parents.”

The recent global COVID-19 emergency also had a disproportionate impact on families with infants and young children. Despite consistent guidance from WHO emphasising the importance of breastfeeding to infant health, and supporting mothers to maintain breastfeeding or at least their milk supply if possible, many countries routinely separated mothers and newborns, despite disrupting breastfeeding with the risks that would entail to maternal and infant health and wellbeing (Vu et al. 2020). 

In the UK, families are also experiencing long term crises of food insecurity, especially during the current cost of living crisis. UNICEF Baby Friendly UK, NIFN and First Steps Nutrition have produced important guidance for local authorities on how to support these families. First Steps Nutrition have produced several related reports on food security for families with infants and on the impact of the cost of living crisis.

ACTION! contact your local authority and ask them

  • Whether they are implementing the UNICEF BFI guidance on food insecurity for families with infants
  • Whether your Local Resilience Forum plan includes infants and young children
  • Whether local guidance follows the Operational Guidance for Emergency Relief Staff and for Programme Managers
  • Email us to tell us what you find out! wbti@ukbreastfeeding.org
  • Volunteer to help with WBTi’s research on infant feeding in emergencies for our upcoming second assessment of UK policies!
  • Ask your MP to ask questions about this in Parliament!

This webinar is part of the documentary and webinar series “Breastfeeding: Not on the Agenda” on breastfeeding, hosted by Dr Ernestine Ndzi from York St John University.

You can register for upcoming webinars here.

Previous webinars in the series and the documentary are available on YouTube.

Helen Gray is Joint Coordinator of the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi) project in the UK.

She is the Policy and Advocacy Lead for Lactation Consultants of Great Britain. She represents La Leche League of Great Britain on the UK Baby Feeding Law Group (BFLG), which works to bring the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes into UK law.

Helen’s background in anthropology and human evolution has influenced her interest in how breastfeeding, and the way we nurture our babies, are influenced by both human biology and culture.

Her current advocacy focus is the need for strong policies to protect infant feeding in emergencies. She has written several articles and chapters on the subject and served on the Advisory Panel for a London Food Resilience research project. She now represents BFLG on the global Infant Feeding in Emergencies Core Group.

World Breastfeeding Week 2023 “Enabling Breastfeeding: Making a Difference for Working Parents”

World Breastfeeding Week 2023 “Enabling Breastfeeding: Making a Difference for Working Parents”

August 1-7 will once again be World Breastfeeding Week. This year, the theme “Enabling Breastfeeding: Making a Difference for Working Parents” is all about combining working and breastfeeding.

One of the key findings from our first WBTi assessment of UK breastfeeding policies and programmes was that although the UK does provide paid maternity leave, and some paid paternity leave, and although there is some guidance on good practice from ACAS and from HSE, there is no statutory right in the UK to breastfeeding breaks or facilities in the workplace.

WABA produces regular snapshot Parents at Work reports on each country’s status on implementing International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions and recommendations on maternity protection at work, including maternity leave, paternity leave, and protected breaks for breastfeeding or expressing milk.

The ILO report Care at Work: Investing in Care Leave Policies and Care Services for a More Gender- Equal World of Work provides a global overview of national laws and policies such as maternity protection, paternity, parental and other care-related leave policies, as well as childcare and long-term care services. 

Breastfeeding-friendly workplaces provide time, income security and space to enable positive nutrition and health outcomes 

All women should have the right to paid working time for breastfeeding, as called for by ILO Convention No. 183. In 2021, 138 countries provide a right to time and income security for breastfeeding. These provisions potentially benefit 8 in 10 potential mothers across the world. Since 2011, seven countries have introduced paid nursing breaks. However, breastfeeding breaks remain unpaid in four high-income countries. In 2021, at least four pathfinder countries recognize men’s supporting role by offering breastfeeding breaks to fathers. 

Almost 5 in 10 potential mothers live in countries that grant two daily breastfeeding breaks; while 109 countries offer the right to daily nursing breaks for six months or more. This would support exclusive breastfeeding in line with World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations for 7 in 10 potential mothers across the world. However, only ten countries provide a right to breastfeeding breaks for at least two years, compromising mothers’ ability to continuing breastfeeding. 

Workplace nursing facilities are a key ingredient of breastfeeding-friendly workplaces. However, only 42 countries offer the right to workplace nursing facilities, covering roughly 6 in 10 potential mothers globally. While small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are often exempted from these requirements, research shows that the economic and well-being benefits of breastfeeding for the new-born, the mother and the employer outweigh the limited costs of these measures. Only 13 countries offer a right to workplace nursing facilities irrespective of the number and sex of workers, with only 5 in 100 potential mothers worldwide living in these countries. Conditionalities for nursing facilities based on sex are discriminatory and remain in place in 19 countries. 

WBW Action Folder

Details for campaigning for improved policies and support for breastfeeding in the workplace can be found in the World Breastfeeding Week Action Folder.

WBW Pledge Map

Organising a WBW2023 celebration? Add it to the pledge map! 

WBTi UK’s WBW outline of the week

Tuesday 1 August

Introduction

Wednesday 2nd August at 12 noon

‘Breastfeeding: Not on the Agenda’ Webinar series: ‘Ready for Disaster? Infant and young child feeding in emergencies in the UK and Europe’ by Helen Gray MPhil IBCLC, WBTi Joint Coordinator

Previous webinars in the series and the documentary are available on YouTube.

Thursday 3rd August at 1pm

‘Let’s make breastfeeding work – optimal maternity leave and workplace accommodations support an environment that enables breastfeeding’. Free webinar from the Global Breastfeeding Collective, led by WHO and UNICEF.

Register HERE 

Friday 4th August

Maternity Action’s Senior Policy Officer Annah Psarros, on their new Toolkit for Employers, including a model Breastfeeding Policy

Saturday 5th August

Dr Ernestine Ndzi on Shared Parental Leave

Sunday 6th August

LCpl Natasha Day MBE, founder of the Defense Breastfeeding Network

Monday 7th August

Final blog from Dr Ernestine Ndzi on the need for “Family-Friendly Policies at Work”, and a Call to Action

Petition

And finally, everyone is encouraged to sign and share this petition from Dr. Ernestine Ndizi, calling for the government to:

  • Embed breastfeeding in the school curriculum and relevant health professional training.
  • Provide a policy on breastfeeding in the workplace which will protect the rights of breastfeeding mothers in the workplace.
  • Mandate all large public places like shopping malls, community centres, public libraries, museums, etc to provide breastfeeding rooms or spaces.
  • Fully adopt The Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes to protect babies and their families from harmful commercial influences and undermining of breastfeeding for commercial profit; and to protect families who formula feed from the escalating costs of premium brands.
  • Provide adequate 24/7 specialist lactation support in maternity services to actively counteract the culture of formula top-ups in hospitals; and to enable human donor milk to be more accessible as an option when mother’s milk is not immediately available.
  • Guarantee a sustained funding support to breastfeeding organisations who play a key part in supporting mothers.

– Include breastfeeding support on the Net Zero Environmental Agenda.

Sign the petition HERE

Join the 2nd WBTi Assessment of the UK!

Join the 2nd WBTi Assessment of the UK!

Do YOU want to be part of driving change for our children’s future?

The second assessment is now underway. It will run throughout this year and be launched in 2024.

What is the WBTi? 

The World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi) is a human rights-based, evidence-informed, collaborative and participatory national assessment of the implementation of key policies and programmes from the WHO’s Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding, and is a project developed by the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN). Currently nearly 100 countries are taking part.

WBTI Indicators of Policy and Programmes

  1. National policy, programme, and coordination 
  2. Baby Friendly Initiative
  3. International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes
  4. Maternity protection in the workplace   
  5. Health professional training  
  6. Community based support
  7. Information support and communications
  8. Infant feeding and HIV
  9. Infant and young child feeding during emergencies     
  10. Monitoring and evaluation 

In 2016, the UK scored just 50.5/ 100 on these ten key policy indicators.

WBTi brings together the main government agencies, health professional bodies, and civil society organisations involved in infant and maternal health and nutrition in each country to work together to collect information, identify gaps and generate recommendations for action. This Core Group must be free of conflicts of interest from the baby feeding industry (all infant or toddler milks up to 3 years, baby foods, bottles or teats).

The Global Breastfeeding Collective, led by WHO and UNICEF, recommend that the WBTi process be repeated, at least every 5 years, to monitor implementation of key policies, and include this in each country’s score on the Global Breastfeeding Scorecard. 

Volunteers wanted

Many volunteers contributed to the success of the first UK WBTI assessment in 2016.

Your contribution is valuable, large or small: 

  • Writing
  • Social media
  • Graphic design
  • Advocacy
  • Freedom of Information requests.
  • Fundraising
  • Mapping infant feeding training standards
  • Auditing numbers of breastfeeding counsellors and peer supporters
  • Project management
  • Virtual assistant skills
  • Parliamentary research
  • and more

You can find the main WBTi UK 2016 Report Part 1, and Part 2 with supplementary material, with Report Cards for each of the four nations and for the UK overall,  here:  https://ukbreastfeeding.org/wbtiuk2016/

Twitter: @wbtiuk 

Facebook: Breastfeeding – WBTi

Facebook page on emergencies: Safely Fed UK – Infant Feeding in Emergencies 

Website

Contact us! wbti@ukbreastfeeding.org

The Baby Friendly Initiative – a Global Building Block to Support Breastfeeding #WBW2022

The Baby Friendly Initiative – a Global Building Block to Support Breastfeeding #WBW2022

WHO and UNICEF launched the Baby Friendly Initiative (BFHI) over thirty years ago; three years later, UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) was born. The original BFHI framework of Ten Steps was created to improve maternity and hospital practices that undermined breastfeeding, such as separating mothers and their newborns or routine formula supplements, as well as implementing the International Code of Breastmilk Substitutes in maternity settings, in order to eliminate conflicts of interest with the baby feeding industry (companies that manufacture or distribute infant formula/milks, baby foods, feeding bottles and teats) such as promotion of formula milk in healthcare settings, or direct contact by companies with parents.

The Baby Friendly Initiative has changed the face of maternity practices and midwifery training in the UK – breastfeeding initiation has gone up about 20% since UNICEF UK BFI was founded in 1994. In this country, BFI has grown beyond maternity settings to create standards for infant feeding support programmes in the community and for universities training the next generation of midwives and health visitors. The BFI standards were revised in 2012, based upon the twin pillars of breastfeeding and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

BFI standards in the community call for the integration of several levels of breastfeeding care:

  • Routine care: all staff in the universal services (midwives, health visitors, support workers etc) are trained to BFI standard with sound, evidence-based, basic training in supporting breastfeeding and responsive infant feeding. 
  • Additional services: every area should have additional support available, such as trained, skilled peer supporters who can act as an “informed friend” for new mothers, and a network of local peer support groups where new parents can find social support alongside help with everyday breastfeeding issues.
  • Specialist services: every area should also have a referral pathway for specialist care for more complex breastfeeding problems; breastfeeding specialists should have extensive experience or training such as the IBCLC qualification or a recognised breastfeeding counsellor/supporter credential, and either be a registered health professional themselves, or co-lead the specialist service with a registered health professional.
WBTi poster on Integrated Services to Support Breastfeeding, 2019

A good example of how the BFI community standards work is Harrow. Read more HERE about how WBTi UK Steering Team member and specialist health visitor Alison Spiro led Harrow’s local community health services through BFI accreditation, to develop a well integrated services and become 

“the only local authority in the UK where breastfeeding was the ‘normal’ way to feed babies”

UNICEF assessment

More recently, UNICEF UK BFI have produced Learning Outcomes for a wider range of health professions: medical students, paediatricians, pharmacists, paediatric/ children’s nurses, maternity support workers and nursery nurses. These will help to address the gaps in high level health professional training standards found in WBTI’s 2016 report. Every health professional who works with women, infants and children should understand the basics of lactation and breastfeeding management, prescribing during lactation, and how to refer parents on to local breastfeeding support.

#WBW2022 Webinar

On Wednesday 3 August, we will all have the chance to learn more about the Ten Steps of BFHI in a webinar produced by the Global Breastfeeding Collective, an alliance of NGOs from around the world led by WHO and UNICEF.

In addition, there will be sessions on the care of young breastfed infants who are small or with faltering growth (the MAMI Pathway) and on infant feeding in emergencies. 

The entire webinar runs from 7-9 AM BST and again from 4-6 PM BST, and will be recorded.

Register HERE

Our WBTi #WBW2022 blog will cover these additional topics later in the week.

See you there!

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is h-gray-2021-dorset.jpeg

Helen Gray MPhil IBCLC is Joint Coordinator of the WBTi UK Steering Group.

National Breastfeeding Week, England

National Breastfeeding Week, England

The Week runs from June 27th to July 2nd and the theme is ‘Everyone has a part to play in helping mums to breastfeed’. The early weeks with a new baby are hard for most mothers and some find that time very challenging but support can make a huge difference. Some people around the mother, particularly partners, can offer practical help in looking after the home and the mother so that she can recuperate after the birth and focus on nurturing the baby, which primarily means feeding.

Sometimes skilled support is needed to enable breastfeeding to work better, which often means improving the latch. This can be from health professionals, such as midwives and health visitors, and specialists – breastfeeding counsellors and IBCLCs (International Board-Certified Lactation Consultants); the specialist services include national helplines*. Trained breastfeeding peer supporters are available in many areas and can offer invaluable mother-to-mother support. They often work in volunteer or paid roles in local support groups, where mothers can give each other confidence and build self-reliance through sharing their stories.

Everyone having contact with the mother can be emotionally supportive, indicating that they value what she is doing and respect her decisions, helping to build her confidence that she can make breastfeeding work. These includes friends, relatives, neighbours, GPs, pharmacists, shop staff…

However, alongside these personal contacts, society’s infrastructure and attitudes can also influence a mother’s experiences with infant feeding. A World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative assessment demonstrates the extent to which a country’s support for breastfeeding implements the Global Strategy on Infant and Young Child Feeding, by scoring ten policy and programme indicators:

1. National policy and funding

2. Baby Friendly in maternity settings

3. WHO International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes (the Code)

4. Maternity protection in workplaces

5. Health professional training

6. Support services for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers

7. Accurate and unbiased information

8. Infant feeding and HIV

9. Infant and young child feeding during emergencies

10.Data – monitoring and evaluation

The UK assessment in 2016 showed the variability between indicators, particularly as an assessment identifies gaps and makes recommendations.

2016 UK report

Carrying out a WBTi assessment in a country around every 5 years monitors the progress, or lack of it, in a country. It is time for a reassessment in the UK.

If you would like to be involved in collecting data, please do contact us, and let us know which of the indicators above YOU are interested in?

You can contact us on: wbti@ukbreastfeeding.org

You can also sign up to receive our occasional e-mails: https://ukbreastfeeding.us15.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=6a6659c1117d2c3f9db7b3339&id=9ac40b899f

*National helplines include:

National Breastfeeding Helpline on 0300 100 0212 (9.30am to 9.30pm, daily)

NCT Helpline on 0300 330 0700 (8am -12midnight, daily)

Author

Patricia Wise is an NCT Breastfeeding Counsellor and a member of the WBTi UK Steering Group

WHO calls out aggressive marketing by infant formula companies

WHO calls out aggressive marketing by infant formula companies

Launch of report

A shocking new report on formula marketing which was commissioned by the World Health Organisation and Unicef has been launched. Called ‘How the marketing of formula milk influences our discussions on infant feeding’, it is a large scale and thorough report in which women’s voices are a key part. The report can be downloaded from this page.

Eight countries were included (Mexico, Bangladesh, UK, Vietnam, S. Africa, Nigeria, China and Morocco) and it involved 8500 mothers talking about their experiences of being targeted and also interviews with health professionals and marketing executives. The survey was conducted by M&C Saatchi World Services, which states on its website: “Our aim is to harness the power of cutting-edge marketing, communications and creativity, so that they become key tenets of behaviour change activity throughout the International Development sector.”

The conclusions of the report are that the marketing is highly targeted, pervasive and exploitative, uses misleading scientific claims and incorporates appeals to aspiration. It therefore backs up robustly what has been known about infant formula marketing for many years. Industry invests more in marketing each year than the funds WHO has available!

‘Marketing the $55 billion formula milk industry’, the webinar of the launch of the report on 23 February is available here.

What needs to happen:

1. Invest in mothers and families (e.g. good maternity legislation)

2. Protect the integrity of science and medicine (including strong conflict of interest policies)

3. Urgently legislate, regulate and enforce regulations in order to protect all families.

The launch was hosted by Kathriona Devereux, science communicator and Cuidhu breastfeeding counsellor, on behalf of WHO, Unicef, Save the Children and two other organisations. Dr. Nigel Rollins gave a brief history of infant formula marketing and presented the key findings. Anu Narayan of Unicef framed the issue – it’s about marketing, the right to accurate and impartial information, and public health v commercial interests, not about breastfeeding v bottle feeding or limiting access or rights. The study questions were:

  • What are women’s experiences of and attitudes towards formula marketing?
  • What are health professionals’ experiences of and attitudes towards formula marketing?

The presentation was followed by comments from a panel that comprised Helen Clark (former Prime Minister of New Zealand), Rebone Ntsie, dietitian from South Africa, Duong Vu from Alive and Thrive in Vietnam, Professor Caroline Homer, specialist in maternal and infant nutrition, and Katie Gilbert, Managing Director at M&C Saatchi World Services. Recommendations for action from the panel included: framing the issues as supporting the right to health, engaging political leaders, recognising the scale and urgency of the problem, improving national regulations and checking imports comply with regulations. It was also suggested that public health needs both to provide the services that mothers need and to demonstrate empathy in its communications, as breastfeeding counsellors are trained to do, indicating understanding of what it’s like to be a mother; formula marketing conveys that impression of understanding.

Worryingly, updating the International Code to address marketing through social media better was also suggested; however, the Code has been updated by 19 subsequent resolutions since 1981 to close loopholes and it does cover all marketing. Governments need to have strong enforceable regulations to implement the Code and resolutions, including addressing digital marketing, and thus protect infants and young children.

What wasn’t mentioned was the significant negative environmental impact of formula feeding. Protecting and supporting families who want to breastfeed to do so will reduce that negative impact.

What can you do?

Sign the WHO open letter #EndExploitativeMarketing.

In addition there is a petition to stop unethical formula research on babies, and particularly a new study in Africa in which low birthweight exclusively breastfed babies will randomly be allocated formula.

If you’d like to check the content of the current UK Laws, the Baby Feeding Law Group (BFLG) has information and links on its website.

Author

Patricia Wise is an NCT Breastfeeding Counsellor and a member of the WBTi UK Steering Group

#WBW2021 Protect Breastfeeding: A Shared Responsibility – Holding Time exhibit by Lisa Creagh

#WBW2021 Protect Breastfeeding: A Shared Responsibility – Holding Time exhibit by Lisa Creagh

We are thrilled to have a guest blog from artist Lisa Creagh, illustrated with her powerful photographs, to wrap up #WBW2021
Her work focusing on mothers and breastfeeding brings out the importance of everyone in society understanding, supporting and protecting breastfeeding.

Holding Time is an ongoing work designed to create greater cultural awareness of the needs of breastfeeding mothers. The work has a conceptual framework as the central theme is motherhood and time. The centerpiece is a three screen installation of animated portraits of mothers alongside a timepiece which grows as time passes.

The project is multi-channel, multi platform and operates city to city. By working with academics, health professionals and grassroots networks it is a large piece of socially engaged feminist art that is intended to bring about meaningful change in UK breastfeeding policy. 

In Coventry I was commissioned by Warwick University to create a piece combining a grid of mothers with audio about their breastfeeding experiences. It was understood that I may not manage to actually capture Coventry mothers, given the extraordinary circumstances of 2020. So i devised a project that could run without human contact, hoping that the conditions would eventually change. Mothers were recruited via social media and through a network of partners from the Coventry Family Health and Lifestyle Services. I met the infant Feeding Team in August 2018 and received great enthusiasm from them and one of their partners, a project called MAMTA that works with BAME mothers who wish to breastfeed.

When the call for participants went out, we had an overwhelming response! In February I  interviewed sixteen mothers via zoom, suggesting the storytelling workshops (also zoom) to those I felt would benefit. Not everyone took up this offer but those that did reported great benefits from having the chance to discuss openly with other mothers the issues they had faced in establishing breastfeeding. Rachel New, the radio producer and writer who devised and ran the workshops on behalf of Creative Lives did an amazing job of really getting the group to face each other and themselves, to pull out the wealth of experience they had between them and craft this into written pieces.

Breastfeeding is such a complex issue and so poorly understood. Mothers came from a wide range of backgrounds – young, older, experienced, new, British, South Asian, and African, reflecting the incredible diversity and cultural richness found in Coventry which has been welcoming people from across the world for many decades. I was hoping to bring out the contrast between mothers who had inherited an unbroken cultural inheritance of breastfeeding vs those, like me who had needed to start from scratch.

I waited hopefully for the restrictions to lift and finally on April 12th 2021 it was legal again to set up a photo studio. With the help of some local talent and the support of a wonderful arts organisation, Artspace, I was finally able to set up a temporary photo studio in Coventry in early May. Now all the mothers I had met only virtually started to appear every day at the door in 3D! it was a wonderful experience to meet them all finally, albeit under strict Covid safety conditions. 

By now the Storytelling group had a WhatsApp group and were organizing park meetups. We quickly set up a WhatsApp group for everyone and once the week was over I went into a supercharged post production period. My commission and proposal to Arts Council England had not included new animation but I felt it would be a travesty to the mothers who had shown such support and commitment to the project, to show mothers form another city in the final show. On my last night in the Premier Inn (I spent a lot of time in the Premier Inn) I decide I could make a new piece in time for the show.

It as an ambitious plan but I feel tremendously proud of the work that came out of Coventry: 12 new animated portraits, one large group portrait, sixteen VLOGS still being released onto Youtube channel and a legacy of seven still images hanging permanently in the labour ward where each mother gave birth, at UHCW in Coventry to inspire new mothers in the city to listen to their stories and if they can, follow them on the journey of breastfeeding.

Here’s a selection:

Hannah and Jacob, 2021

Hannah had a very premature baby who, at 25 weeks, was lucky to survive. She expressed for many months until finally she was given the go ahead to feed Jacob on the breast. Her story is an epic journey of resilience, stamina and self belief with some real insight into what mothers under this tremendous pressure need to keep going: https://youtu.be/P22EgsAIvJQ

Rayyan and Yusuf, 2021

Rayyan is a typical Coventry mother, although she would point out she was actually born in Hull…she lives in a tight knit family who supported her through some incredibly dark days after the birth of her first child. She came through it and is now tremendously positive about her experience and the support she received from family and the local maternity team: https://youtu.be/wrfbEAFB2HI

Mel and Harley, 2021

Mel is breastfeeding her third child and talks about finally feeling confident enough go to baby groups. She is very funny and I think we can all relate to her description of herself when she was a new mother and was too embarrassed to feed in public, even when she had the support of her mother by her side: https://youtu.be/vNnmPHN8Jj0

Hema and Devani, 2021

Hema was one of the first mothers I met in Coventry, back in 2018 at a Big Latch event. She is a tremendous role model as someone who came through huge physical challenges to breastfeed and eventually trained as a peer to peer mentor and is now supporting many mothers in the Coventry Gujarati community. It was fascinating hearing about how Hema sought help when she needed it and is now there to help others: https://youtu.be/5Ku97-Vig3k

Emilie and Jean, 2021

Emilie is not alone in finding herself surprised to be ’still’ feeding her child aged three. I found it really sweet how she says that it wasn’t the plan (but there never really was a plan….). I meet so many mothers who have fed full term doing this work and I’m always fascinated to hear their insights as it really is a journey of self discovery, as much as learning about your child and their needs: https://youtu.be/i4rsRJBy3wg

Follow online on #BreastfeedingBuddy

Holding Time Cheshire and Merseyside: https://holdingtime.org/cam/

https://www.lisacreagh.com/holding-time-1

www.youtube.com/c/HoldingTime

@TheHoldingTimeProject

@holdingtimeproject

Improving Me https://www.improvingme.org.uk/about-us/

Improving Me

The NHS Cheshire and Merseyside’s Women and Children’s Partnership proudly announce the Holding Time Project launch and call for participants

Women are invited to express an interest in any of the following:

1. Mother-talk with Lisa: Interview with the artist about your breastfeeding experience for a 5 minute VLOG to be distributed on social media channels and Youtube. 16th September through to 28 October 2021 For examples see www.youtube.com/c/holdingtime

2. Group Mother-speak:  Zoom storytelling workshops led by the experienced BBC Producer, Rachel New over six weeks starting on 16th September through to 28 October 2021. These collaborative writing workshops will be delivered in partnership with BBC Radio Merseyside’s community broadcast team. For previous examples listen here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p09g27bg

3. A Breastfeeding portrait: Feed your baby whilst being photographed by the artist in a Covid safe temporary photographic studio during a 1.5 hour session. These portraits will be the basis of animations and stills for a permanent display. January 2022

Mothers who wish to participate should fill out the form at:

http://www.holdingtime.org/CAM

Open to all mothers who have breastfed for any amount of time

Lisa Creagh studied Fine Art and Art History at Goldsmiths College, London. She received a Masters in Photography from Brighton University in 2009. Her work is collaborative in nature: as a producer and curator she has delivered large-scale photographic projects. ‘The Instant Garden’, begun in 2008 was awarded a development grant by The Arts Council of England in 2010 and is still exhibited widely. 
 
Holding Time is a Feminist art piece, which evolved from Lisa’s own difficulties in breastfeeding documented on the project website. Lisa created Holding Time in 2016 to examine the cultural barriers to breastfeeding, listen to the experiences of other mothers and drive change. 
 
Holding Time is a co-created, participatory arts project comprising of videos of conversations and portraits of breastfeeding women, to confront and breakdown the structural and cultural barriers many women face, including stigma about body image. 
www.lisacreagh.com/about

#WBW2021 Protect Breastfeeding: A Shared Responsibility – Government

#WBW2021 Protect Breastfeeding: A Shared Responsibility – Government

It has long been recognised that breastfeeding is the ‘single most effective intervention’ to improve health and support human rights, while making excellent economic sense and reducing social inequality.

National governmental leadership in the UK and devolved nations could make a significant difference by making legal, policy and structural changes. These would filter down through every level of society to show ACTION for the shared responsibility of protecting and supporting every child’s human right to have the best start in life.

There have been Calls for Action before with slow or indifferent responses. The new Health Security Agency has an opportunity to fulfil its responsibility to the health of England’s population by making positive changes NOW.

A WBTi report identifies gaps and makes recommendations. The UK report in 2016 reported that, for Indicator 1, which covers National policy and whether there is an associated programme and coordination, the scores from the assessment were:

England 1

N.I. 10

Scotland 10

Wales 4

Sadly, the situation remains unchanged in England. It is TIME to invest and implement recommendations, which are supported by the broad alliance of infant feeding agencies who have come together to speak, with one voice, on behalf for all new families’ futures in this uncertain world.

Take ACTION on:

Legislation

  • Introduce legislation for breastfeeding/ expressing in every workplace.

Policy

Structure

  • Establish a structure for monitoring implementation of the Code and that action is taken against violations.
  • Create a multi-sectorial, funded lead, for Infant Feeding in England with a strategy and route to share best practice.
  • Ensure full and equitable access to skilled support for every new mother.
  • Build in improvements to monitoring and collection of data.

All these improvements would help protect the breastfeeding dyad much better and move much closer to the vision of all UK families experiencing a society that is supportive of breastfeeding with ready accessible skilled support available whenever is needed.

Author: Clare Meynell RM (rtd) IBCLC

Clare trained as a child & general nurse before a long career as a midwife and infant feeding lead. more than 25 years. Clare has also led La Leche League peer support training sessions in her local community. Currently, with Helen Gray, Clare jointly coordinates the UK WBTI working group and co presented the first report for the UK in Parliament in November 2016.

Working with her colleagues she hopes to create “Actions for Change”, through the WBTi report recommendations, so the next generation of mothers are enabled to achieve their personal breastfeeding goals and that society better values the health giving properties of human milk as the physiologically normal food for babies.