The Breastfeeding Promotion Consortium (BPC) was established by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Consumer Service (FCS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in 1990. It meets twice each year in Washington, DC and is composed of over 40 organizations.

Mission Statement: The Breastfeeding Promotion Consortium will be a forum for dialogue between breastfeeding advocacy groups and Federal agencies to promote, protect, and support breastfeeding.

The BPC's morning session was joined by the National Advisory Council on Maternal, Infant and Fetal Nutrition, a group that makes recommendations to the President and Congress on ways to improve WIC and related programs. The Food and Nutrition Service has funded 19 states with training and technical assistance grants to help WIC build community partnerships that extend the Loving Support theme into the local community. Reports on these show that this concept is very productive in raising breastfeeding awareness and rates. ILCA members may wish to contact their local and state WIC agencies to explore methods of partnering with WIC in community outreach efforts. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded 4 states, Montana, Illinois, New Mexico, and South Carolina to obtain this training as a mechanism to address obesity in their states by using breastfeeding interventions. The CDC has released obesity grants to over half of the states to reduce overweight and obesity. Since, one of the mechanisms required in the grant is an effort to improve breastfeeding, ILCA members may wish to contact their state public health department to see if and how the obesity grant is funding breastfeeding improvement. Funds may be available through these grants for support of local and state breastfeeding initiatives.

Highlights of Member Organization Updates

Office on Women's Health (OWH)/Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

The National Breastfeeding Awareness Campaign surveyed almost 1000 people before and after the Campaign's 2004 launch, with these outcomes reported so far:

• 69% of men were comfortable seeing a baby breastfed in public in 2005, compared to only 59% of men in 2004
• 63% of men said they would be willing to have their own baby breastfed in public in 2005, compared to just 53% of men in 2004
• In 2005, 67% of women and 62% of men felt the best way to feed a baby was to give only breast milk - up from 60% (women) and 50% (men) in 2004
• In 2005, 59% of women and 65% of men agreed that babies should be breastfed exclusively for the first 6 months, up from 55% (women) and 53% (men) in 2004.
• 75% of people who had seen the TV ads disagreed that formula is as good as breast milk, compared to 59% of those who had not seen the ads
• 59% of women who had seen the TV ads were more likely to be comfortable breastfeeding in public, compared to 39% of those who did not see the ads
• 73% of women who had seen the TV ads were more likely to be comfortable seeing other women breastfeed their babies in public compared to 55% of those who had not

The TV ads for the campaign will end in December and the radio ads will finish in April 2006. The Ad Council sent out reminders to the media to run the ads during World Breastfeeding Week. Billboard materials will be available until they run out. ILCA members can visit www.WomensHealth.gov for more information and can contact their local media to urge them to run the ads. Easy Guides to Breastfeeding are a set of breastfeeding booklets for mothers that are free from the OWH, are available in a number of different languages, and make great handouts to replace formula discharge bags. These can be ordered from the OWH.

Baby Friendly USA
There are now 50 hospitals in the US designated as Baby Friendly, with an additional 54 hospitals holding a certificate of intent to become Baby Friendly. Some hospitals have been the recipients of grants from local breastfeeding coalitions and advocacy organization to help defray some of the costs of becoming Baby Friendly. ILCA members whose hospitals have resisted becoming Baby Friendly due to the cost of the process may wish to look to the community for possible funds or fund raising opportunities as an incentive to become Baby Friendly.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

• The CDC has just published a wonderful new guide on public health interventions to promote and support breastfeeding. The guide entitled, "The CDC Guide to Breastfeeding Interventions" is designed to help states and policy makers allocate funds in the most effective manner to help utilize breastfeeding as a public health intervention. ILCA is prominently mentioned under the chapter of Professional Support. The 67 page booklet is available from the CDC in hard copy by sending your request to bfguide@cdc.gov and can also be downloaded from the CDC website at www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding.
• The CDC is developing a National Maternity Care Practices Surveillance System questionnaire to monitor maternity and breastfeeding care practices in hospitals throughout the US.
• The bulk of the breastfeeding information pages that were located at the CDC website have been moved to the US Breastfeeding Committee website at www.usbreastfeeding.org
• The Healthy People 2010 health objectives for the nation now have 2 new exclusive breastfeeding objectives that have been added to the breastfeeding objective 16-19. These objectives have been placed in the Federal Register for comments and will be designated as d. exclusive breastfeeding objective of 60% at 3 months and e. exclusive breastfeeding rate of 25% at 6 months.
• The WHO breastfeeding growth charts will be available for use in the US in March 2006, after the CDC, AAP, and others determine how they can be used for growth monitoring purposes in the US.
• The 2003 breastfeeding rates have dropped significantly, with a large component of responsibility in the hands of the infant formula manufacturers. They have been asked about this

Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

• The FDA is engaged in the Infant Feeding Practices Study II which will sample approximately 2250 mothers regarding breastfeeding, formula use, feeding solids, use of dietary supplements, questions to assess the birth experience, sources of information, exposure to the National Breastfeeding Awareness Campaign, breast pump use, mother's employment, infant health, sleeping arrangement, and infant allergy. Data collection began in May 2005 and will continue until December 2006. First prenatal data availability is projected by March 2006.
• The FDA continues to review human milk banks
• The Center for Devices and Radiological Health has an ongoing committee that is continuing to evaluate post-market information on breast pumps to determine the most appropriate methods of outreach to users and health professionals

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
AHRQ will be compiling a systematic review of level of quality of the studies on the benefits and harms of breastfeeding.

The last part of the agenda looked at projects for making breastfeeding the cultural norm. The Maine Library Project was reported on that involved library books and reading times of stories that illustrated infants being breastfed. The Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition reported on its "Breastfeeding for All Walks of Life" campaign and its materials that are available at www.massbfc.org