Breastfeeding in an Emergency Situation

Here is an article about breastfeeding AND relactation during Natural Disasters and other Emergencies. Think of ALL the babies who could have avoided dehydration during Katrina if only their mamas had had the forethought to breastfeed. That "free milk from the clinic" isn't always going to be there. Neither is store bought forumla OR clean water to mix it with. When dysentery and cholera hits, formula fed babies are the first to die.

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When an Emergency Strikes Breastfeeding Can Save Lives, Part 2

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 1, 2005 ( Schaumburg , IL ) When an emergency occurs, such as the recent Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast, breastfeeding saves lives.

Breastfeeding protects babies from the risks of a contaminated water supply. It provides protection against respiratory illnesses and diarrhea--diseases that can be fatal in populations displaced by disaster.

The basics of breastfeeding during an emergency are much the same as they are in normal times. Continuing to breastfeed whenever the baby seems hungry maintains a mother’s milk supply and provides familiar comfort. The release of hormones while a mother is breastfeeding relieves stress and anxiety and is calming to both mother and baby.

IF A MOTHER HAS JUST GIVEN BIRTH

If it is within even five days of the birth a mother can have a full milk supply quickly by putting the baby to the breast immediately and breastfeeding the baby, every two to three hours or more frequently. Breast milk is 87% water, so the mother should drink to thirst plus a little bit more. Drinking too much water is not recommended as the mother will be uncomfortable and no additional milk will be produced.

RELACTATION INFORMATION

If a mother has not just recently given birth, but it is up to six months after birth she can relactate by putting baby to the breast, or express the breast, every two hours. Initially she may be producing only drops per day. Her milk will increase by about one ounce every 24 hours. Mother then decreases the amount of formula, or donated human milk from another mother, by about one ounce a day. The younger the baby the sooner it will be to establish a full milk supply.

For more information on breastfeeding during an emergency, check out this page on the La Leche League Web site at www.lalecheleague.org/emergency.html

La Leche League Leaders are trained community volunteers who answer questions about breastfeeding. To contact a LLL Leader in the US go to: http://www.lalecheleague.org/WebUS.html or call 800 LA LECHE, Option 4.

Since 1956 La Leche League International, a nonprofit organization now in over 60 countries, has helped mothers worldwide to breastfeed through mother-to-mother support, encouragement, and education. (www.lalecheleague.org or 800 LA LECHE).

Contact Information: Mary Lofton, PRManager@llli.org at (847) 519-7730, ext. 271 or Mary Hurt, PRAssociate@llli.org, ext. 286 or Katy Lebbing, klebbing@llli.org ext. 245. After hours contact 630-710-0247.



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Last edited September 1, 2005 4:25 PM by sak.

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And this from the wonder Dr. Gartner:
An Open Letter to Health Care Providers Attending to Families Affected by Hurricane Katrina:
The Role of Human Milk and Breastfeeding

La Leche League received this via email and would like to share it with all interested parties.

September 7, 2005

You are caring for children and adults under the most stressful and distressing situations during this post-Hurricane Katrina period. We all thank you and honor you for this heroic effort.

Please consider the value of human milk and breastfeeding as an important component of this care of both young children and their mothers. Human milk is a valuable resource that can not only protect the vulnerable infant from disease, but can also promote psychological health and comfort during stressful times. Human milk reduces pain and promotes more rapid healing after injuries and infections. While maternal health is of great importance, it should be recognized that even the malnourished mother will produce milk of good quality for her infant.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) states that “breastfeeding ensures the best possible health as well as the best developmental and psychosocial outcomes for infants.” Under situations of displacement, poor sanitation, inadequate food resources, threats of infection, and severe anxiety, human milk and breastfeeding have a particularly important role to play in protecting the vulnerable infant from infection and psychological trauma. One example of this protection is the remarkable reduction in diarrhea in breastfed infants who are exposed to shigella, a common cause of dysentery.

During this post-Hurricane Katrina time, health care workers should make every effort to promote breastfeeding by:

1) urging pregnant women to breastfeed immediately after delivery of their infant,
2) urging new mothers to start breastfeeding at any time during the early weeks after birth
3) urging breastfeeding mothers to continue exclusive breastfeeding for six months
4) urging breastfeeding mothers to continue breastfeeding for at least one year and longer, even after starting other foods.

La Leche League International and the Section on Breastfeeding of the American Academy of Pediatrics, as well as many other experts on breastfeeding, stand ready to assist you in your efforts to promote, protect and support breastfeeding and the use of human milk.

Lawrence M. Gartner, M.D.
Member, Professional Advisory Board of LLLI
Chair, Section on Breastfeeding of the AAP
Professor Emeritus, The University of Chicago

Reference: Emergency Nutrition Network - http://ennonline.net/index.html

 

And an article on how to make baby wear slings out of just about anything, complete with pictures
http://www.mamatoto.org/

 

you know there was the image of this guy holding his baby up to the cameraman imploring for help to feed his baby and the first thing that crossed my mind was why they were relying on formula when it was more than likely mama had been able to breastfeed...and had chosen not too....


my friend had not breastfed and then at four months the baby decided that was all she was going to have and voila after a couple of rough days the milk came back in....

 

That's a very good point.

 

well, some mothers are forced to stop breastfedding due to the fact that they have to take medications that you shoulding't take while breastfeeding.

 

I totaly thought about this topic when seeing what was happening on the news...mothers ad fathers crying for help " please please these babies are without any formula or clean water" I'm going wow it's totaly free and clean to breast feed! What a thing to have to discover the hard way!

 

I am amazed by this and also struck by how removed we are from our natural states. Not even a hundred years ago, when struck with a disaster like this people would have automatically placed motherless babies with wet nurses and other moms would have simply fed their babies. We are so dependant on our conveniences that it is killing us.
EEEk- sorry, I'm feeling overly dramatic tonight.

 

You are so totally right. When I read this, and thought about what I would do in that situation, it's the exact same thing. If I was nursing at that moment, I would shurely try to nurse as many kids as possible....
I mean the number is not infinite, and I probably would make sure that my own kids are save, but I ceraintly would be sharing.

that is so true. And this disaster has shown it in so many ways. I mean, living under sealevel.... a wonder that nobody saw this tragedy comming. The earth is a fragile system that has the power to balance itself, and it has to do it all the time. And when we take stuff, that is not ours, earth takes it back. The western nations use up so much water, and what happens in other places? The desert, and with it the dryness grows.

 

Considering less than ONE PERCENT of the drugs in the US Pharamcopia are contraindicated during lactation, I doubt the vast majority of mothers in New Orleans (or anywhere for that matter) have this excuse to fall back on.

 

well, then there's the drug and alcohol consumption.

 

Yeah, depending on the drug, and the amount of alchohol, too. I doubt there were many mothers getting drunk right after Katrina.

As for drugs, crack is really bad for breastmilk, weed (while I wouldn't recommend it or do it myself) really isn't a huge deal. Better than mixing formula with contaminated water, or just letting the baby starve, at any rate.

 

what, you're not leading the lactation consultant's relief group down there right now Maggie? cuz you know, the success rate is just abysmal without a professional's advice.

 

By all means, we should never try to help ANYONE, with the TRUTH, because the choices of some may be outside the "comfy factor" of a small minority of the population.

Please keep your comments on topic.

 

very true. too bad so many women have no idea how to get their milk flowing again.

 

Yep Exactly my point.

There are already reports of many many infants with dysentery. This is an almost totally preventable disease in infants, who is fed human milk. But I also doubt that Probiotocs (like acidophilus or bifidus) are being administered in the shelters. It's also something that could help these poor babies who are and will become so ill from either lack of milk, or formula mixed with questionable water. Probably throwing antibiotics at the babies, and Pedialyte.

Probiotocs in these situations are about as rare as the Red Cross hiring Lactation Consultants for Disaster Relief. Even ZOOS know to call an LC when there are emergencies when babies aren't nursing and they know it is the best thing in the circumstance. (Like when the Brookfield Zoo in chicago hired an entire LLL group to nurse in front of a pregnant gorilla who abandoned her first baby, due to not bonding via breastfeeding. They would go there almost every day and just feed their babies, barechested, so she could see them. (This was NOT done in the regular viewing area! )She watched the mothers in the LLL group with interest, learned to nurse by watching and not only didn't abandon her next baby, but succesfully breastfed him.) Learning IS possible, but wanting to is essential.

I hate to see babies suffer.

 

yeah. it's the absolute worst.