Breastfeeding can be a challenge for many new moms, and a sweeping campaign from the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM) and Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere (ROSE) has identified ways to better support mothers through what can be a difficult and painful journey.
To address common obstacles to breastfeeding, the groups brought together families, community members, healthcare workers and researchers to share experiences and identify solutions.
“It doesn’t help anyone to say you should breastfeed and then not have the support and evidence-based best care that we know helps families reach their infant feeding goal," said researcher Ann Kellams, MD, a pediatrician and breastfeeding and lactation medicine specialist at UVA Children's. “In this project, we asked the breastfeeding person themselves what is important to them, what they need in order to be successful.”
Notably, the effort concluded that too much emphasis is put on how long women breastfeed and not on the many other factors that determine breastfeeding success.
Participants said they often felt social pressure to give their babies formula rather than breast milk, even though exclusive breastfeeding is recommended by major medical groups for the first six months. Many participants talked about how they felt ill prepared for how hard breastfeeding could be. Some related stories of lack of support from family members and impersonal care from healthcare providers.
Those types of insights will be invaluable for doctors and other care providers seeking to encourage breastfeeding, Dr. Kellams says. But they also will help shape future initiatives and research.
“We hope to take what we have learned from families and translate that into effective interventions,” she said. “Breastfeeding is a ‘team sport,’ and whether you are a healthcare professional, family member, friend or community member, we are all on the team. In order for us to have healthier lives on a large scale, we all need to do our part to support breastfeeding success.”