Position Statements 2004 [Breastfeeding]

Breastfeeding

ICN Position:

ICN considers that breast milk is the food of choice for infants and that, as a general principle, exclusive breastfeeding should be protected, promoted and supported for the duration of six months as a global public health recommendation.^[1] ICN supports efforts to promote adoption of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) to ensure that all maternities become centres of breastfeeding support.^[2]

ICN up holds the mother’s right to make an informed choice about infant feeding. This includes providing information, counselling and guidance to all HIV infected mothers about the risks and benefits of feeding options most suitable for their situation, in line in with those recommended in the UNICEF/UNAIDS/WHO guidelines.^[3]

Furthermore, ICN supports the revised International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 183 on maternity protection. ICN concurs that it is the right of all working women, including those in the informal sector, to have paid daily breaks or a daily reduction of hours of work when breastfeeding a child, and to have hygienic facilities at or near the workplace.^[4]

Background

Infants who are breastfed have fewer illnesses and are better nourished than those who are fed other drinks and foods. It is estimated that 1.5 million infant lives would be saved, and the health and development of millions of others would be greatly improved, if exclusive breastfeeding took place in the first six months of life.^[5] Using breast milk substitutes, such as infant formula or animal's milk, pose real threats to infants' health if parents cannot afford sufficient substitutes and/or do have access to safe water to reconstitute the formula.

While a mother with HIV who is breastfeeding may increase the risk of HIV-transmission to the child by up to 15%, a child on breast milk substitutes is about 6 times more likely to suffer from infectious diseases such as diarrhoea and respiratory infections during the first 2 months of life.

Finally, women today spend a greater portion of their lives in paid employment as their participation in the labour market rapid rises. According to the ILO, women’s economic activity rates climbed from 54 % in 1950 to 66 % in 1990, and they are projected to reach almost 70 % in the year 2010, with women in their childbearing years being the fastest growing segment of the labour force in many countries.^[6] Increasingly countries are seeing that the health benefits of breast-feeding for infants and mothers are also being matched by economic returns at the national and workplace levels when breast-feeding is supported by policies and in practice by employers willing to accommodate the needs of nursing mothers.

[1] World Health Organization, Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding, Geneva, Author, 2003.

[2] United Nations Children’s Fund, The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative, Accessed at http://www.unicef.org/programme/breastfeeding/baby.htm in August 2004.

[3] United Nations Children’s Fund(UNICEF), Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), World Health Organization (WHO). HIV and Infant Feeding. WHO, Geneva 1998

[4] International Labour Organization, Convention 183. Convention Concerning The Revision Of The Maternity Protection Convention (Revised), 1952, Adopted By The Conference At Its Eighty-Eighth Session, Geneva, 15 June 2000.

[5] United Nations Children’s Fund, Facts for Life, Accessed at http://www.unicef.org/ffl/04/index.html in August 2004.

[6] International Labour Organization, Report V(1) Maternity Protection at Work, Revision of the Maternity Protection Convention (Revised), 1952 (No. 103), and Recommendation, 1952 (No. 95), Geneva, Author, 1999.