The American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Gynecology and Obstetrics, American Dietetic Association, the US Surgeon General, WHO/ UNICEF, and countless other organizations recognize and promote breastmilk as the optimum food for infants.
In response to the documented benefits of breastfeeding to the infant, the mother, the family, and society as a whole, as well as in response to the infant feeding crisis in third world countries, we have founded the American Breastfeeding Coalition whose mission is to actively promote and support breastfeeding through nationwide education and outreach.
GOALS
To increase the number of healthcare providers who include breastfeeding counseling
as part of routine care.
To increase the number of mothers/ infants who leave the hospital breastfeeding.
To increase the number of women who breastfeed their babies for at least 12 months.
To encourage breastfeeding-friendly policies and procedures at hospitals and medical
offices.
To provide accurate information to families, healthcare professionals, and the community.
To increase the number of working mothers who continue to breastfeed their babies.
To create a more breastfeeding-friendly society, where feeding human milk to human
babies is the norm.IMPLEMENTATION
Encourage doctors to become knowledgeable about breastfeeding, and to adopt a breastfeeding-friendly practice. Through educational programs we offer, by offering incentive of being listed in our breastfeeding-friendly healthcare directory, and by encouraging physicians to join the American Academy of Pediatrics Program for Breastfeeding Promotion on Pediatric Offices, we hope to render pediatrician's much more helpful, informative, and supportive to breastfeeding families.
Breastfeeding guides given out at hospitals. New mothers are plagued with bottlefeeding samples and coupons before leaving the hospital. Any breastfeeding information they do receive is likely to have been written by formula companies and very unhelpful and discouraging. Through fundraising efforts, we produce and distribute pamphlets to hospitals to send home with new parents. The pamphlets contain accurate breastfeeding information, answers to common questions, help for common problems, and local resources for support, help and instruction, and helpful products. Most new mothers who leave the hospital breastfeeding their babies quit before the baby even reaches three months of age. We hope to change this through information and resources for help and support.
Conduct advertising campaigns, such as billboard campaigns. Formula advertisement is everywhere. All around us are pictures of bottlefeeding babies and messages that artificial milk is "all the nutrition growing babies need". Mothers need to know that there is an infinitely better food for their babies.
Provide information and support to working mothers, and incentives to employers to become breastfeeding-friendly. Through our website and pamphlets distributed throughout communities, we seek to educate women on how they can successfully breastfeed their babies even if they work outside the home. We seek to inform employers about the many benefits they gain by having employees who breastfeed their children. We offer incentives for companies who maintain a work environment that is helpful to a breastfeeding employee through our awards program and through our directory of family-friendly businesses.
Donate breastfeeding books to libraries. This includes not only helpful books for parents, but children's books as well. Most mainstream children's books are full of pictures of babies feeding on bottles. However, there are many rarely-seen children's books with stories and pictures of breastfeeding babies.
Maintain informative displays at community events and educational conferences.
Maintain this web site as a resource of information and support for the general public, as well as healthcare professionals.
IN CLOSING
We seek to make changes for the better, community by community across the nation. We can only do so with the help of people like you in communities across America, including healthcare professionals and the general public alike, and with successful fundraising efforts. Thank you to all of you who volunteer your time and energy, and financial resources to American Breastfeeding Coalition!