Breastfeeding Is Best -- Canterbury DHB

Breastfeeding Is Best

Breastfeeding gives babies the best start in life, according to Canterbury DHB’s Community and Public Health team.

The advice comes after warnings last week from the New Zealand Food Safety Authority that parents using Nutricia Karicare Gold Plus Infant Formula and Follow-On Formula should gradually change to an alternative product. The Authority said the product was non-compliant under the joint Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code.

CDHB Dietitian Alison Roberts says breast milk is free, readily available and nutritious for babies. It is easily digested and contains all the right nutrients babies need to grow until they are six months old.

Antibodies are passed from mother to baby through breast milk, which reduces the risk of the infant developing infectious diseases such as gastroenteritis, respiratory infections and ear infections. It also reduces infants’ risk of developing food allergies.

Breastfeeding helps mother and baby to bond and helps to protect women against pre-menopausal breast cancer and ovarian cancer. It can also help mothers to return to their pre-pregnancy weight. “Put simply, breast milk is best,” Ms Roberts says.

She says statistics from the Plunket National Child Health study indicate that although the number of mothers who breastfeed after they give birth is high, rates decline significantly with time. After 6 weeks, 68 per cent of infants are fully breast fed while just 24 per cent of babies are breast fed after four to six months.

The Ministry of Health currently recommends that infants are exclusively fed breast milk from birth to four to six months of age and preferably until at least 12 months with appropriate complimentary food being introduced at around four to six months.

World Breastfeeding Week will be held from 1-8 August. The theme this year is the importance of “skin to skin” contact between mother and baby directly after birth. The week will finish with the “Big Latch On”, where mothers from all over the world will breastfeed their children in a variety of settings as a reminder that breastfeeding is best. For more information about the week, see www.womens-health.org.nz

ENDS

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