We are inspired by....
1) The recommendations of the US Department of Health & Human Services calling for community action to produce improvements in mother/baby healthcare. Excerpted from:
THE SURGEON GENERAL’S CALL TO ACTION TO SUPPORT BREASTFEEDING 2011:
http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/calls/breastfeeding/calltoactiontosupportbreastfeeding.pdf
-Because of the ramifications … on her ba
by’s health as well as her own, every mother in our nation deserves information, guidance, and support with this [breastfeeding] decision from her family and friends, the community where she lives, the health professionals on whom she relies, and her employer.
-This Call to Action describes specific steps people can take to participate in a society-wide approach to support mothers and babies who are breastfeeding. This approach will increase the public health impact of everyone’s efforts, reduce inequities in the quality of health care that mothers and babies receive, and improve the support that families receive in employment and community settings.
-For nearly all infants, breastfeeding is the best source of infant nutrition and immunologic protection, and it provides remarkable health benefits to mothers as well. Babies who are breastfed are less likely to become overweight and obese.
-Many mothers in the United States want to breastfeed, and most try. And yet within only three months after giving birth, more than two-thirds of breastfeeding mothers have already begun using formula. By six months postpartum, more than half of mothers have given up on breastfeeding.
-Identifying the support systems that are needed to help mothers meet their personal breastfeeding goals will allow them to stop feeling guilty and alone when problems with breastfeeding arise. All too often, mothers who wish to breastfeed encounter daunting challenges in moving through the health care system.
2) The WHO Code
In 1981, The World Health Organization adopted THE INTERNATIONAL CODE OF MARKETING OF BREAST-MILK SUBSTITUTES:
http://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/code_english.pdf
The Smart Birth Program is in compliance with all aspects of the Code. In particular, we only use educational materials that demonstrate the benefits of breastmilk and health issues with substitutes. We dol not advertise, promote, offer or sell any products or materials (whether free or paid for) against the Code.
3) The Moms We Support! Pregnant and parenting teens are connected with dozens of schools and programs, many of which are solely dedicated to supporting their needs. However, funding through the Department of Education has been cut, so that currently there is no formal childbirth, breastfeeding or babycare preparation, even in schools where 100% of the students are pregnant and parenting teens. Outcomes of birth in this group vary widely without consistent education and care. Lactation outcomes are similarly very poor due to lack of education and support directly following birth. Typically, low income woman are unable to afford quality lactation care and give up on breastfeeding. A formula fed baby is 15 times more likely to be hospitalized in the first year of life. Obesity, diabetes, chronic ear infections are just a few of the harmful side effects of not nursing a baby. Students who have just given birth do not return to school to follow up with the nurse regarding feeding or postpartum recovery concerns until it is often too late to help regenerate the lactation relationship between mother and child. We believe there is a strong connection between positive birth outcomes and positive breastfeeding outcomes. The Smart Birth Program attempts to bridge the gap between hospital and school, clinic and home, to ensure equal access to safe births and breastfeeding education and counseling.
