Updated 09/20/2011 11:09 AM
City Moms Still Face Breastfeeding Barriers
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Medical research shows that breastfeeding for the first six months of life is one of the best ways to help guarantee maximum health benefits. But for lots of moms, it is not always the easiest approach. NY1 Health & Fitness Reporter Kafi Drexel explains some of the challenges as well as what health officials and some local groups are doing now to try and help.First-time mom Kendra Brooks has only breastfed her five-month old.
"I like it because it is very convenient. Being in the middle of the night with them hollering and screaming at two , three, four in the morning...I can't make a bottle going crazy half asleep," Brooks said.
Based on the latest city health department statistics, she's one of the nearly 80 percent of Harlem Hospital moms who begin exclusively breastfeeding before heading home. That's one of the highest rates in the city.
"Babies that are breastfed tend to have a better, stronger immune systems. So they have less infections, less hospitalizations, less sick visits to the doctor," said prenatal care educator Blondy Henry-Byam.
The thinking is if you can get a mom to breastfeed in the hospital the more likely they are to continue, and Brooks says that's exactly what worked for her.
But for some moms it isn't so easy.
"My plan was always to exclusively breast feed Kate and even in the hospital we were having problems with latching on and the nurse would 'put a little formula on the nipple and that will get her to latch on,'" said new mom Ayesha DeMond Angell.
State and city health officials are trying to make sure moms aren't getting mixed messages. In 2010, 61 percent of women who gave birth in city hospitals and 48 percent in the remainder of the state received formula in the hospital to supplement feedings.
Unless there is a medical need, it is a practice officials are encouraging hospitals to decrease.
As of 2009, Jamaica Hospital Center had some of the highest supplemental formula feeding rates in the city.
Hospital administrators declined to comment.
Aside from health issues, advocates point out there are other factors keeping moms from breastfeeding, ranging from the high cost of most efficient breast pumps to lack of support from some employers for clean, private areas to pump as required by law.
"Seventy-seven percent of moms working low wage or retail positions, they give up on breast feeding after returning to work," said Baby Buggy Program Director Nura Poursharif.
Private organizations like the non-profit Baby Buggy, and local health agencies are working to help provide more moms with the tools they need for successful breast feeding.
We, at the NYC Health Department, are keenly aware of the challenges facing working mothers who decide to breastfeed, and in particular the challenges for lower income women as they need to return to workplaces that may not easily accommodate a mother's decision to breastfeed. Federal law, specifically the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, requires employers with more than 50 employees to provide a safe, clean lactation space that is not a bathroom, and unpaid breaks for breastfeeding mothers to pump their breast milk up for up to one year after the child's birth. The Health Department assists low income mothers through programs like its Newborn Home Visiting Program, which recruits new mothers from low-income communities at the bedside in five NYC hospitals (Lincoln, Harlem, Metropolitan, Woodhull, Brookdale); schedules home visits and provides breastfeeding support and a follow-up visit if needed. The Nurse-Family Partnership Program serves first time low income women at seven sites across all five boroughs to provide support throughout the pregnancy and after birth. Both programs have made pumps available to mothers who need to return to work or school. The Health Department has made materials to support breastfeeding women, both before and after birth, available through 311. Women can also receive telephone help from a peer counselor in English and Spanish from the National Women's Warmline reachable through 311. We have found that many employers are not aware of the laws and we are working with an organization called Work Sites for Wellness to recruit other city agencies to follow our lead in implementing lactation for their employees. The Health Department now has three lactation rooms available for its employees.
Some of the Health Department's work aimed to assist low income women with breastfeeding is bulleted below:
• The Health Department's Breastfeeding Initiative, through a federal Communities Putting Prevention to Work Obesity grant, is currently working with 13 hospitals to make system-wide changes to improve breastfeeding rates. Using the model developed through the Department's work with the Health and Hospitals Corporation's Breast Milk Initiative and the Staten Island Breastfeeding Initiative and using the WHO/UNICEF Baby-Friendly Ten Steps as a guideline, we are providing intensive technical assistance to five hospitals and work on creating linkages between the hospital and pre- and postnatal services with the additional eight hospitals.
• Additional community level activities include the Faith Based Organizations Breastfeeding Initiative to recruit and recognize 100 faith based organizations who designate an area in their place of worship where mothers can nurse babies, host an event to promote breastfeeding and share breastfeeding information with their congregation.
• Other community-level activities include linking new mothers to the National Breastfeeding Helpline, distributing breastfeeding educational materials, and a breast pump distribution program through Nurse-Family Partnership Program and the Newborn Home Visiting Program (NHVP), and medical provider education.