August 06, 2013
Separation breaks breastfeeding urge
The New Zealand Breastfeeding Authority says New Zealand has stopped being a breastfeeding society, and a lot of work is needed to turn the situation round.
Executive officer Julie Stufkens says the situation is even worse for Māori women, with breastfeeding rates typically 5 to 10 percent lower than the rest of the population.
She says breastfeeding is a skill and an art, and young mothers need good information and support early on if they are to make a success of it.
Ms Stufkens says past practices are now known to discourage breastfeeding.
"Separating a mother and a baby and taking a baby away to a faraway room, that interferes with breastfeeding. Timed feeding interferes, so there are lots of things we did unknowingly that interfered with breastfeeding so we need to be working and turning that around so , how can we as health workers and how can we as a community provide the supports for that mother to be able to feed her baby and to be with her baby," she says.
Ms Stufkens says parental leave is important for encouraging breastfeeding, as is having an environment where women can feed their babies in public without embarrassment.
He mea nui te āta whakataa
He mea nui kia wātea ngā wāhine ki te tiaki i ō rātou pēpē ki te kāinga, nō reira mē aro ngā kaituku mahi ki ngā hiahia ō ō rātou kaimahi wāhine.
Hai tā te rōpū whāngai waiū ō Aotearoa, kua roa tēnei whenua e whakapāhunu ana i te hiahia ō ngā whaea ki te whāngai i ā rātou pēpē ki te waiū.
Ki ētahi kōrero, kua heke mārika te maha ō ngā whaea Māori e whāngaihia ana ā rātou pēpē ki te waiū ō te tinana.
Kāti, mē whakamōhio atu ki ngā māmā rangatahi tonu te pakeke, ngā tikanga hai whai atu, kia marama ai rātou ki ngā pēwheatanga ō te whāngai waiū.
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