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Ask the American Academy of Pediatrics to update their breastfeeding
recommendations to comply with the World Health Organization! Urge them to
adopt a two year minimum duration recommendation for breastfeeding, and to
reword their literature in terms of the risks of artificial feeding and early
weaning, rather than the "benefits" of breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is the
biological norm, not simply a beneficial practice.
Alternatively you could send this from
your personal email address.
You can copy, paste, and send this
letter directly from your email account to
lactation@aap.org.
Please also take a few minutes to go to your personal email account and copy and
send the letter to
JBerkelhamer@aap.org,
the current AAP President, and to
executivecommittee@aap.org
as well. Here is the list of names of everyone currently
on the AAP Board:
Renée R. Jenkins, MD - President-Elect, Errol R. Alden, MD
- Executive Director, Edward N. Bailey, Henry Schaeffer, MD, Sandra G. Hassink,
MD, David T. Tayloe, Jr, MD, Ellen Buerk, MD, M.Ed., Michael V. Severson, MD,
Gary Q. Peck, MD, Mary Brown, MD, Myles B. Abbott, MD, John Curran, MD, Eileen
M. Ouellette, MD, JD (Immediate Past President)
Feel
free to modify the letter as you see fit.
Feel free to blind carbon copy
us at
amy@babywhys.org or join our yahoo group and blind
carbon copy the group at
babywhys@yahoogroups.com
Full text:
I am writing to urge you to update your
breastfeeding recommendations.
In 1997, the AAP made an effort to clarify the policy statement, to help the
public understand your position that breastfeeding ought to continue for at
least the first year, and as long as mutually desired after that, not to stop at
6 months or 12 months as many people were misinterpreting the recommendation.
Two of your members (Lawrence and Gartner) speaking on this topic stated that
they wished in retrospect that they had made the recommendation for a minimum of
two years. In 2005, an update to the policy statement was made, including new
research on the "benefits" of breastfeeding. However, the breastfeeding rates in
the U.S. are dismal. The AAP should take all possible action within its power
order to encourage breastfeeding and discourage substandard feeding practices.
Many other countries follow the World Health Organization’ s (WHO) lead in
recommending a minimum of two years of breastfeeding. The "Global Strategy for
Infant and Young Child Feeding", by the World Health Organization in
collaboration with UNICEF, states:
"As a global public health recommendation, infants should be exclusively
breastfed for the first six months of life to achieve optimal growth,
development and health. There after, to meet their evolving nutritional
requirements, infants should receive nutritionally adequate and safe
complementary foods while breastfeeding continues for up to two years of age or
beyond."
Furthermore, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) states:
"Breastfeeding should ideally continue beyond infancy, but this is currently not
the cultural norm and requires ongoing support and encouragement. Breastfeeding
during a subsequent pregnancy is not unusual. If the pregnancy is normal and the
mother is healthy, breastfeeding during pregnancy is the woman's personal
decision. If the child is younger than two years of age, the child is at
increased risk of illness if weaned. Breastfeeding the nursing child after
delivery of the next child (tandem nursing) may help to provide a smooth
transition psychologically for the older child."
The AAFP also emphasizes:
"Because breastfeeding is the physiologic norm, we will refer to the risks of
not breastfeeding for infants, children, and mothers."
http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/policy/policies/b/breastfeedingpositionpaper.html
Perhaps if more mothers could receive information about the risks they take by
not breastfeeding or by weaning too soon, the societal barriers and lack of
support for breastfeeding would vanish. The AAP should reword its literature in
terms of the risks of not breastfeeding, rather than leaving it in terms of the
"benefits" of mother's milk.
The U.S. has high rates of infant mortality and incredibly low breastfeeding
duration and exclusivity rates. Childhood diseases, including obesity, which is
becoming an epidemic, have the potential for much better management or
prevention if simple improvements in recommendations about breastfeeding are
made.
In my opinion, the fact that the AAP recommends the minimum duration of
breastfeeding to be only one year means that many women will:
1) shoot for one year and fall short, or 2) breastfeed for one year and then
wean for no other reason than that they have met the minimum AAP recommendation
for duration of breastfeeding.
Perhaps if a two year minimum or ideal recommendation were set, more women would
seek help in proper breastfeeding management in order to meet the new
recommendation. If women were making efforts to protect their supply early on in
order to make it to two years, more women would reach the current one year
recommendation even if they could not make it to two years of breastfeeding
ultimately.
Furthermore, bringing your recommendations in line with the rest of the world
may help curb some of the inappropriate discrimination against nursing mothers
who nurse 1, 2, and 3-year-olds or even older children. Tennessee recently
passed a breastfeeding in public protection that only applies if the baby is 12
months of age or younger. I feel that this is because of the misunderstanding of
the AAP recommendations, or an assumption that the AAP recommendation implies
that there is little to no benefit to the child of breastfeeding past 12 months
of age.
The Healthy People 2010 goals are in serious danger of not being met. The AAP is
a respected organization with the tremendous responsibility of establishing
policies that protect children's health. This role isn't a popularity contest-
it's a serious matter than can even mean life or death for some. Unfortunately
it has been about ten years since anything truly groundbreaking has been
addressed on this subject, despite a tremendous amount of new research. It is
time to update, publicize, and promote new recommendations that will ultimately
encourage physicians and parents to nurture a healthier nation.
Sincerely,
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