Held January 22, 2004,
Washington, DC
ILCA Liaison: Marsha Walker
Breastfeeding Promotion Committee (BPC)
met on January 22, 2004. ILCA's liaison to the BPC, Marsha
Walker, RN, IBCLC, reports.
Baby Friendly USA: The US now has 40
hospitals that have been designated as Baby Friendly. The
first health system to become entirely Baby Friendly was
designated in Cincinnati, Ohio, where the three hospitals in
one health system all achieved Baby Friendly certification.
Baby Friendly USA, with funding from other government agencies
and Best Start, will engage in a project to assess the
barriers that hospitals identify to putting the BFHI in place.
Best Start: Loving Support training will
now target 10 states with the lowest breastfeeding initiation
rates to put in place measures to improve the numbers of women
who begin to breastfeed. Best Start is also working with the
Maternal Child Health Bureau to create an employer's kit to
reduce some of the barriers to breastfeeding in the workplace,
and is working with USDA to implement a national breastfeeding
peer counseling initiative in WIC.
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP): The
Breastfeeding Promotion in Physicians' Office Practices
program has moved into Phase II with an evaluation survey to
be conducted soon. The AAP Section on Breastfeeding recommends
exclusive breastfeeding until about 6 months of age, but the
AAP Committee on Nutrition disagrees, supporting the
introduction of solid foods between 4-6 months of age. There
is a difference of opinion on this issue within the
organization and AAP publications will acknowledge this in
footnotes in their documents. The revised 1997 AAP policy
statement on breastfeeding is before the AAP board of
directors with publication anticipated in 2004.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
The CDC will also be looking at hospital barriers to changing
practices that support the Ten Steps. The CDC has distributed
many obesity prevention grants to states that contain a
requirement for planning how to incorporate breastfeeding
programs within obesity prevention activities. ILCA members
may wish to secure the name of the contact person for any CDC
obesity grant in their state and assure that breastfeeding
information and support is part of this program. Two new
sub-objectives have been proposed and requested to the HP2010
breastfeeding goals: the percentage of exclusive breastfeeding
at 3 months and the percentage of exclusive breastfeeding at 6
months.
Office on Women's Health (HHS):
The Leadership Team of the United States Breastfeeding
Committee met with Kevin Keane, Assistant Secretary for Public
Affairs Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to
learn the status of the much anticipated National
Breastfeeding Campaign. Assistant Secretary Keane reported
that the Campaign WILL be launched before mid-year. Dr.
Suzanne Haynes of the Office on Women's Health described the
Campaign changes as "minimal." The risk-focused campaign
strategy will remain intact. The Campaign will also feature
the importance of exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months. More
than 1,000 communications received by the Department of Health
and Human Services had a significant influence on the
decisions made. The tag line of the campaign is "Babies Were
Born to be Breastfed."
The rest of the day consisted of presentations on
supporting breastfeeding mothers in the workplace, including
the military. The Navy has a breastfeeding policy and a
program called the "Family Care Initiative." Part of this
program is 24/7 lactation support. ILCA members may contact
local military hospitals to explore the use of their services
under the "Family Care Initiative." Workplace models were
discussed along with the dilemma posed to low-wage working
women. Four sets of materials were provided as examples of
effective policies and programs:
- Washington Healthy Mother/Healthy Baby Coalition
- California WIC program
- Texas Mother-Friendly Worksite Program
- Oregon Department of Health
U.S. ILCA members interested in working with their state
legislatures to enact worksite protection laws can access the
model California law at:
www.dir.ca.gov/DLSE/Regulations.htm and clicking on AB
1025. Supporting materials can be found at the California WIC
website at:
www.wicworks.ca.gov
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