Breastfeeding
back to HEHA
Waikato DHB strongly supports breastfeeding because of the health benefits to both mother and baby.
In the short term it reduces the risk of infectious diseases such as gastroenteritis and respiratory infections, while the long term benefits include a reduction in the risk of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease for the infant.
Breastfeeding benefits for the mother include reduced risk of post-partum haemorrhage, and of breast and ovarian cancers.
|
|
 National campaign
The number of women in New Zealand who breastfeed their infant at six months is low, especially among Maori and Pacific women, and the rates continue to drop after six months.
For this reason, the Ministry of Health is running a campaign aimed at increasing these rates by reinforcing how important breastfeeding is and how important it is for family/whanau and friends to encourage and support mums to breastfeed.
The aim is to increase the perception of breastfeeding as a normal part of everyday life and increase the number of babies being breastfed for six months and also the number who continue to be breastfed beyond six months.
The campaign is being run in two phases.
Phase one, which is now completed, focused on encouraging partners, family/whanau and friends to support mums to breastfeed.
Phase two encourages environmental support for breastfeeding in settings outside the home.
For more information about the campaign visit www.breastfeeding.org.nz
Breastfeeding Outpatient Service
Waikato DHB’s breastfeeding outpatient service offers a service for new mothers and babies who may be experiencing difficulties with breastfeeding.
An evaluation of the service found that the service is increasing breastfeeding duration, knowledge, confidence and success through its weekly clinic for new mothers.
It also found that the service helped to increase knowledge of other health professionals by providing valuable phone advice.
Final report of the evaluation of the Waikato DHB's Breastfeeding Outpatient Support ServiceMedia releases
|
