LATCHING ON TO BREAST FEEDING: New moms have a lot of decisions to make, including whether to
breast-feed their newborn.
But the Middlesbrough mum also finds the time to
breast-feed her youngest child, three-week-old Eli, just as she did with her other two youngsters, Megan, three, and two-year-old Grace.
Figures from 2000 suggest only 70% of mothers in England and Wales
breast-feed, 63% in Scotland and 54% in Northern Ireland.
Counterintuitive as it sounds, it may be that the higher the mother's chemical body burden, within limits, the greater are the health benefits conveyed to her infant by her breast milk and the more important it is for her to
breast-feed, to help reverse any transpaternal damage to the fetus.
We asked should businesses be fined for not allowing women to
breast-feedI've spoken to breast-feeding consultants who say
breast-feed for as long as possible, quoting the nourishment and protection of breast milk throughout toddlerhood.
women
breast-feed at levels far below national targets, and one reason may be that they get inadequate support for breastfeeding in hospitals and birth centers.
Babies were born to be breast-fed" is the tag line for a new national campaign to encourage first-time mothers to
breast-feed exclusively for 6 months.
The scheme has been devised by North Tyneside Primary Care Trust to encourage more mothers to
breast-feed.
In the 2003 legislative session, the Oregon House and Senate considered a bill (SB 783) that would have required employers to provide unpaid rest periods and an area separate from restrooms to allow employees to
breast-feed or express milk in private, except where it would impose an undue hardship.
In addition, the risk of premenopausal breast cancer in mothers is reduced the longer they
breast-feed.
A good deal of research has pinpointed factors which may be associated with this, for example, older mothers, non-smokers and those with higher levels of education and income are more likely to
breast-feed.
