EATS ON FEETS

This seems to be sweeping facebook all over the world!

It's a network for mothers who have milk, or mothers who need milk, to find each other.

What they say:
The Eats On Feets GLOBAL is a network that facilitates local woman-to-woman milk sharing via regional chapter pages on Facebook. We assert that women are capable of making informed choices and of sharing human milk with one another in a safe and ethical manner. Eats On Feets GLOBAL does NOT sponsor the selling or corporatism of human breast milk.

Eats On Feets Global was created by a worldwide network of women coming together for a common cause- Feeding babies human breast milk. Spearheaded by activist Emma Kwasnica and inspired by the local action of Shell Walker LM, Eats On Feets is quickly becoming another example of the creative functions available through social networking.

Eats On Feets does NOT: diagnose, delineate, dictate, direct, determine, debate, debit, deal, deputy, deliver, deposit, or otherwise participate in the dogmatic control or outcomes of human breast milk sharing.

Eats On Feets DOES: Provide an online space where families who want human breast milk for their babies can find women who have breast milk to share. We encourage milk-sharers to utilize the principles of Informed Choice when establishing milk-sharing relationships.

The news in Australia even ran a segment on this:

Keeping the cord intact a little longer....

We Can Be Much Kinder - Birth Matters Video Contest

WHO's Infant and young child feeding model chapter for textbooks

Infant and young child feeding: Model Chapter for textbooks for medical students and allied health professionals

The Model Chapter on Infant and Young Child Feeding is intended for use in basic training of health professionals. It describes essential knowledge and basic skills that every health professional who works with mothers and young children should master. The Model Chapter can be used by teachers and students as a complement to textbooks or as a concise reference manual.

http://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/infantfeeding/9789241597494.pdf

Does Breastfeeding Reduce the Risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome?

Breastfeeding is beneficial for infants and their mothers. Breastfeeding reduces the risk of gastrointestinal and respiratory infections. In some, but not all, countries SIDS prevention campaigns include breastfeeding.

This study shows that breastfeeding reduced the risk of sudden infant death syndrome by ~50% at all ages throughout infancy. We recommend including the advice to breastfeed through 6 months of age in sudden infant death syndrome risk-reduction messages.

PEDIATRICS Vol. 123 No. 3 March 2009, pp. e406-e410

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzZJYYrUDwM
Beautiful breastfeeding video from LLL Bulgaria.

MothersMilkBank Charity Ride Australia

The Jetstar Gold Coast Titans MothersMilkBank Charity Ride will see George Doniger cycling from Currumbin to Cairns in Queensland. Starting Monday 16th March 2009 and finishing Friday 3rd April 2009, George will fundraise for the MothersMilkBank during his grueling 19 days of cycling.

The Charity Ride will start at a local IGA store at 9am and finish at a local IGA store at 3pm each day. At the finish of each day, the Lions Club will provide a sausage sizzle for a gold coin donation. This will give the local communities the chance to get behind this great cause.

Queensland is leading the way in helping our babies who need this valuable service but the ability to provide donor milk has stalled. Lack of funds to cover the expenses involved with testing and pasteurising the donor milk means babies and families are suffering without this service.

Since the commencement of the MothersMilkBank, 136 litres of pasteurised donor human milk has been provided for free to sick pre-term infants, as well as other babies in need.

The vision of the MothersMilkBank is to see a national network of Milk Banks established around Australia. The Federal and State Governments have acknowledged that a national network of Milk Banks will greatly improve the health of babies, saving the lives of babies and saving valuable health care dollars. Unfortunately the funding to achieve this vision has not been allocated.

If you would like to make a tax deductable donation or for more information, please visit the website www.mothersmilkbank.com.au

We are also pleased to announce the MothersMilkBank Facebook group! Come, join us and invite your friends. It is hoped we can make this a great place to support each other, ask questions and spread the word.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=61077410212

Thank you for your support, your generosity will play a vital role in the future health of Australia's children.

The MothersMilkBank Team

Voldemort = Formula

‘Voldemort’ approach failing mothers
Monday 9 March 2009

Formula feeding should be clearly named in research showing its potential health risks to babies, according to a new study.

The study, led by Dr Julie Smith from the Australian Centre for Economics Research on Health at The Australian National University, shows that researchers reporting poorer health among formula-fed children too often shy away from including a mention of formula feeding in their titles or summaries.

“This is not helping properly informed health professionals and mothers,” Dr Smith said. “We looked at the findings of nearly 80 authoritative studies, all of which highlighted that formula-fed babies tend to be at higher risk of poor health than children fed on breast milk.

“Yet the vast majority of these studies did not mention formula feeding in the places that matter most for lasting impressions: headlines and abstracts. Rather than naming formula feeding as a significant risk factor, researchers seem to be treating this subject like Voldemort in the Harry Potter novels, as “He Who Shall Not Be Named.” For example, a study showing a higher incidence of a serious condition in formula fed infants was misleadingly named ‘Breastfeeding and necrotising enterocolitis,” she said.
Dr Smith and her colleagues stress that their research into how formula feeding is referred to in scientific studies was intended to ask an important rhetorical question about cultural attitudes and informed choice, and shows why blaming mothers for not breastfeeding is futile and misguided. They argue that initiatives to improve infant health by increasing breastfeeding have described the importance of accurate language, and the key role that well-informed health professionals play for women to breastfeed successfully.

“How can we expect physicians and other health professionals to be informed and convincing about the importance of breastfeeding if they themselves are not getting the facts on risks of formula feeding presented in a prominent and clear fashion?” Dr Smith said.

“Adopting the ‘Voldemort’ approach to describing the risks of formula feeding in published research harms the ability of physicians and other health professionals to support women, and reduces women’s ability to make informed choices. If a mother seeks support and reassurance that continuing breastfeeding is worthwhile, such non committal research reporting means she may get non committal advice from health professionals, even though the evidence is clear that formula feeding disadvantages infant health.”

Filed under: Media Release, ANU College of Medicine Biology and Environment, Health

Learn more: The research paper is online at http://www.acerh.edu.au/publications/ACERH_WP4.pdf