August is Breastfeeding Awareness Month in Ohio. This year’s theme is: “Breastfeeding-A Vital Emergency Response. Are you ready?” This theme offers the Ohio Department of Health the opportunity to partner with disaster preparedness agencies and institutions as well as other community programs to encourage breastfeeding as a way to ensure continued infant health during an emergency. Although in the United States we do not have refugee camps and civil war, we do have weather emergencies, house fires, floods, homelessness, and other times when the normal flow of food and water is disrupted.
Emergency preparedness is vital. Families need to consider how they would feed their baby if clean water, sterile bottles, and formula or even shelter were not available. Mothers need the support of the entire community fulfill their breastfeeding plans. Supporting breastfeeding in non-emergency settings will strengthen mothers’ capacity to cope in an emergency. Support for breastfeeding mothers include:
- Discussing breastfeeding and disaster preparedness decisions early in her pregnancy and refer to www.ready.gov for help in planning for a disaster
- Educating her family about why it is important to breastfeed and how to support her decision to breastfeed
- Encouraging hospitals to implement the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding
- Joining breastfeeding coalitions to advocate for policies and legislation that support breastfeeding
- Encouraging employers to support their breastfeeding employees
- Working with disaster preparedness organizations to support safe infant feeding
- Asking the media to promote breastfeeding as the norm.
All elements of the community should cooperate and support breastfeeding mothers so babies can be assured of a free, safe, and reliable food source whenever disaster strikes. Ultimately, our whole society benefits from having healthier mothers, babies, and children when breastfeeding is supported.
For more information about breastfeeding in Clermont County, please contact us.