World Breastfeeding Week Focuses on Disaster Relief
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By Cerise Bouchard

In August and September of 2005, I watched in horror the devastation that Hurricane Katrina wreaked on my hometown of Gulfport, Mississippi and neighboring communities. 
The most vivid image in my mind is the starving babies being held up by parents and strangers in a cry for help.

When statistics about the life-saving benefits of breastfeeding are discussed, many people think the data applies only to Third World countries lacking clean water to prepare breast milk substitutes. 

But no place -- First World or Third -- is immune to an emergency. If there is one thing Hurricane Katrina taught us, it’s that it can happen here.
This year’s theme of World Breastfeeding Week, celebrated annually Aug 1-7, is Emergency Response.

The goals are to draw attention to the lifesaving role that breastfeeding plays in disaster situations and to educate relief workers on how to support breastfeeding before, during and after the disaster.
In emergencies, infants and young children are especially vulnerable to malnutrition, illness and death.

Can you imagine the difference that breastfeeding could make in an emergency?
Let’s look at the most vulnerable among us -- a newborn infant, born into a situation of insecurity and poor sanitation, with dirty water, scant food and no shelter.
Extreme weather conditions, lack of skilled birth attendants and medical care, and premature birth increase risks even further.

Both immediate skin-to-skin contact after birth and initiation of breastfeeding within one hour reduce deaths by nourishing and protecting infants, and by helping to stabilize their body temperature.

These measures also reduce the risk of post-partum hemorrhage in the mother --- a leading cause of maternal mortality worldwide.
Donations of breast milk substitutes are not necessarily the answer.
These donations not only increase formula use among breastfeeding infants, but the lack of clean water to prepare breast milk substitutes increases health risks.
During emergencies, mothers need active support to continue or re-establish breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding is a shield that protects infants in an emergency and is the one safe and secure source of food for babies.
Emergencies can happen anywhere in the world.
Whatever the emergency -- from earthquake to conflict, from flood to flu pandemic -- the story is the same: breastfeeding saves lives.

For more information on World Breastfeeding Week, visit www.worldbreastfeedingweek.org.
Emergency workers can find more information on how to support breastfeeding during emergencies at the Emergency Nutrition Network at http://www.ennonline.net/ife/breastfeedingweek.aspx 
 
Cerise Bouchard is a Certified Lactation Counselor and owner of Mother Nurture. Contact her through www.MotherNurtureKY.com.