January 27, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*
*UPDATED STATEMENT:
Breastfeeding is the First Line of Defense in a Disaster*
*Washington, DC*--The Human Milk Banking Association of North America
(HMBANA), United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC), International
Lactation Consultant Association/United States Lactation Consultant
Association (ILCA/USLCA), and La Leche League International (LLLI) strongly
affirm the importance of breastfeeding in emergency situations, and call on
relief workers and health care providers serving victims of disasters to
protect, promote, and support mothers to breastfeed their babies. During an
emergency, breastfeeding mothers provide their infants with safe food and
water and disease protection that maximize their chances of survival.
This week, the International Milk Bank Project and Quick International
Courier coordinated a shipment of milk from the HMBANA member banks to
supplement a mother's own milk for the premature, medically fragile, and
orphaned infants aboard the U.S. Navy ship *Comfort* stationed off the coast
of Haiti. This milk will help this small group of infants. In this highly
unusual circumstance the infrastructure associated with the *Comfort*'s
resources allows U.S. sourced donor milk to help fragile Haitian babies.
Donor milk, however, is not a solution for the large number of infants and
young children affected by the earthquake in Haiti. Members of the public
who wish to promote the survival of mothers and babies in Haiti can donate
money to the following organizations: UNICEF, Save the Children Alliance,
World Vision, and Action Against Hunger. These organizations are using best
practice to aid both breastfed and non-breastfed infants. Members of the
public can be confident that donations to these organizations will support
breastfeeding and help save the lives of babies.
Interventions to protect infants include supporting mothers to initiate and
continue exclusive breastfeeding, relactation for mothers who have ceased
breastfeeding, and finding wet nurses for motherless or separated babies.
Every effort should be made to minimize the number of infants and young
children who do not have access to breastfeeding. Artificially fed infants
require intensive support from aid organizations including infant formula,
clean water, soap, a stove, fuel, education, and medical support. This is
not an easy endeavor. Formula feeding is extremely risky in emergency
conditions and artificially fed infants are vulnerable to the biggest
killers of children in emergencies: diarrhea and pneumonia.
As stated by UNICEF and WHO, no donations of infant formula or powdered milk
should be sent to the Haiti emergency. Such donations are difficult to
manage logistically, actively detract from the aid effort, and put infant's
lives at risk. Distribution of infant formula should only occur in a
strictly controlled manner. Stress does not prevent women from making milk
for their babies, and breastfeeding women should not be given any infant
formula or powdered milk.
There are ongoing needs in the U.S. for human milk for premature and other
extremely ill infants because of the protection it provides from diseases
and infections. If a mother is unable to provide her own milk to her
premature or sick infant, donor human milk is often requested from a human
milk bank. American mothers can help their compatriots who find themselves
in need of breast milk for their sick baby by donating to a milk bank that
is a member of the Human Milk Banking Association of North America.
For more information about donating milk to a milk bank, contact HMBANA at
www.hmbana.org
Additional information for relief workers and health care professionals can
be provided from the United States Breastfeeding Committee at
www.usbreastfeeding.org
ILCA/USLCA at www.ilca.org or www.uslca.org
or La Leche League International at
www.llli.org
A list of regional milk banks is available on the HMBANA Web site at
www.hmbana.org/index/locations
*USBC is an organization of organizations. Opinions expressed by USBC are
not necessarily the position of all member organizations and opinions
expressed by USBC member organization representatives are not necessarily
the position of USBC. *
