Breastfeeding: A Vital Emergency Response
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OBJECTIVES OF WORLD BREASTFEEDING WEEK 2009
- To draw attention to the vital role that breastfeeding plays in emergencies worldwide.
- To stress the need for active protection and support of breastfeeding before and during emergencies.
- To inform mothers, breastfeeding advocates, communities, health professionals, governments, aid agencies, donors, and the media on how they can actively support breastfeeding before and during an emergency.
- To mobilise action and nurture networking and collaboration between those with breastfeeding skills and those involved in emergency response.
RATIONALE
- Children are the most vulnerable in emergencies – child mortality can soar from 2 to 70 times higher than average due to diarrhoea, respiratory illness and malnutrition.
- Breastfeeding is a life saving intervention and protection is greatest for the youngest infants. Even in non-emergency settings, non-breastfed babies under 2 months of age are six times more likely to die.
- Emergencies can happen anywhere in the world. Emergencies destroy what is ‘normal,’ leaving caregivers struggling to cope and infants vulnerable to disease and death.
- During emergencies, mothers need active support to continue or re-establish breastfeeding.
- Emergency preparedness is vital. Supporting breastfeeding in non-emergency settings will strengthen mothers’ capacity to cope in an emergency. [Source]
When we think of emergencies we think of earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, war, and famine. The kinds of events that bring Red Cross volunteers to the frontlines, handing out food, water and formula and directing stranded individuals to shelter, providing the basic necessities for survival.
But during emergencies, chaos is everywhere. There’s often no electricity, running water,or sanitation facilities, and while bottled water is good for drinking, more water is required for washing and sanitizing. Infants who must rely on formula are put at the highest risk when dirty bottles risk contamination and disease. No matter where one lives, mothers need to chose to breastfeed in order to ensure their babies health, safety and survival.
For young children, another component to survival is staying close to a parent. Breastfeeding is the best way to ensure a child is nourished, as well as feels safe, loved and protected in the arms of its mother. Why do you think even grown-ups cry for their mommy in the most frightening moments? We all need to be touched and cared for by someone who cares. Children trust their parents to provide that reassurance. Sometimes, another woman who is lactating can step in and nurse a lost or orphaned child. A police officer in Jiangyou, China breastfed nine babies after the May 12th, 2008 Sichuan earthquake which killed more than 69,000 people. She was pronounced a hero. Read more of the story here.
Breast milk can also be used to wash with and treat scrapes and other small wounds. When medical aids are scarce, breast milk can be a precious commodity. Mothers with abundant supplies of breast milk can count their lucky stars in the time of crisis.
Moms who have weaned or only partially breastfeed can still nourish their babies by starting the process of re-lactation, which simply means breastfeeding as much as possible to stimulate the milk supply again.
Hopefully you will never find yourself in the middle of an emergency. However, if you do and you are still making milk, you are in a very good position to protect your children from life threatening illness, disease, and hunger. You are also in the position to be able to help other families and babies who do not have access to a food supply. While nursing another woman’s child (cross-nursing) might not be everyone’s cup of tea, I hope every woman who reads this might consider doing it if a crisis ever arose.
Please also take some time to read my other post World Hunger Day: Breastfeeding Reduces Hunger (duh!) and Infant Mortality about the hunger crisis in Southeastern Asia and Africa.
It looks like this post did not get accepted for the August Carnival of Breastfeeding, due to being a very late submission, but please head on over to Blacktating to read Elita’s post and all of the other Carnival participants linked on her page.
Related posts:
- Monday Musings: What Are You Doing For World Breastfeeding Awareness Week?
- What I’m Doing For World Breastfeeding Awareness Week
- World Breastfeeding Awareness Week Starts Today
- Yes, I Know It’s World Breastfeeding Week
- Daylight Savings 2009: Why Breastfeeding Moms Will Lose Even More Sleep Tonight
Tags: breast milk, cross nursing, formula, World Breastfeeding Awareness Week
I fall into the ‘not my cup of tea’ camp on cross-nursing, but I would definitely reconsider in a crisis. It’s one thing when alternatives exist, but it’s quite another when there are lives on the line. I would also breastfeed my weaned child(ren) in the same situation. Sometimes you just do what you have to.
Watching the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when there was no water or formula, made me so thankful for breastfeeding. It’s just one less thing to worry about, you know?
I wouldn’t cross-nurse unless someone was in an emergency situation and it was up to me to keep the baby hydrated and nourished. Then, heck yeah I would!
I remember reading about the officer in China. What a hero indeed!
I’d like to learn more about cross-nursing in case I ever have the opportunity to step up and help out.
Are there things the nursing mom should do to ensure safety between nurser and nursee? And what if she’s nursing multiple children?
What’s the protocol?
@Amber – I did a poll back in April – http://www.breastfeedingmomsun.....mans-baby/
- asking moms if they would ever consider nursing another woman’s child. Most of them said they would but with conditions attached. Many would *only* do it in emergencies. Most of the time that’s the only time one would ever need to though.
@Kacie – Here is a post I wrote in April that covers some of what you ask. http://www.breastfeedingmomsun.....tsourcing/
Basically, there is no official protocol that I am aware of. If a woman wants to cross-nurse permission from the mother is obviously extremely important, as is being disease free. That being said, an emergency is a different situation all together. If the mom or another family member isn’t around then the decision is all yours. The risk of disease transmission is very small – there have been many studies on the possibility of HIV transmission in breast milk for example and while there is a risk, it is very low. There is a higher risk in formula feeding due to unsanitary conditions.
The woman who is making the milk will be making milk specific to her own child (age, health aspects) but in an emergency I know I wouldn’t care too much if a women who was nursing a toddler decided to nurse my starving baby. It would still be fine nutritionally speaking.
If you feel I left anything out please let me know, or if anyone else has something else to contribute, please do!
This is an inspiring read… a great viewpoint on what a single individual lactating woman can do to help in the face of disaster…. damaged torn areas, broken humans with no services to help them, just turning to each other for help. I think this is amazing. I find the Chinese officer a hero of great magnitude.
Humans who find themselves in less than wordly disasterous conditions..(ie loss of job, loss of home)…. many times do things they would never have considered if “bad times” had not befelled them. Some will even dumpster dive for food… Breastfeeding a hungry child of any age when there is a disaster is something I’d do if I had the milk…. and encourage others to also…for nourishment, protection and the simple greatness of mankind.
[...] This week, August 1-7, is World Breastfeeding Week! I have been wanting to make a post about it, but I haven’t known what to write. WBW is about drawing attention to breastfeeding during emergencies. I have actually thought about how thankful I am to be breastfeeding for this reason. If our power was out, I would be able to feed my baby with no troubles. If you want to read more about this, the lovely Melodie has a great post about WBW on her blog, Breastfeeding Moms Unite. [...]
[...] This week, August 1-7, is World Breastfeeding Week! I have been wanting to make a post about it, but I haven’t known what to write. WBW is about drawing attention to breastfeeding during emergencies. I have actually thought about how thankful I am to be breastfeeding for this reason. If our power was out, I would be able to feed my baby with no troubles. If you want to read more about this, the lovely Melodie has a great post about WBW on her blog, Breastfeeding Moms Unite. [...]
[...] This week, August 1-7, is World Breastfeeding Week! I have wanted to make a post about it, but I haven’t known what to write. WBW is about drawing attention to breastfeeding during emergencies. I have actually thought about how thankful I am to be breastfeeding for this reason. If our power was out, I would be able to feed my baby with no troubles. If you want to read more about this, the lovely Melodie has a great post about WBW on her blog, Breastfeeding Moms Unite. [...]
[...] In light of the recent earthquake in Haiti, I am re-posting (with editing) something I wrote for World Breastfeeding Awareness Week 2009. May it be my small effort towards educating people about the importance of breastfeeding the [...]
[...] light of the recent earthquake in Haiti, I am re-posting (with editing) something I wrote for World Breastfeeding Awareness Week 2009. May it be my small effort towards educating people about the importance of breastfeeding the [...]