In This Issue
The Convention on the Rights of the Child: A brief history
By Christine Mulford, RN, IBCLC
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is one of the eight major human rights treaties that have been adopted by the United Nations since 1969. The CRC, adopted in 1989, has been ratified by 193 countries, although not by the United States. The U.S. government was very active in the drafting process, which lasted more than a decade. Much of the key language in the document was proposed by American diplomats, so our country's failure to ratify the CRC has been baffling to child advocates around the world.
The CRC is important to breastfeeding advocates because it specifically mentions breastfeeding. Article 24 calls on governments to ensure that "all segments of society" have access to education and support for breastfeeding. This reference to breastfeeding may appear minor; however, it is the result of extensive advocacy efforts in drafting committees.
Breastfeeding advocates can use the CRC as a platform for national action on infant and young child feeding. Every five years every country that ratified is required to report about the state of its children to the UN Committee on the CRC. Breastfeeding data and information about programs to support breastfeeding can be part of these national reports, and this gives breastfeeding organizations an opportunity to raise the issue with their governments. Our challenge in the U.S. is to raise awareness of the importance of breastfeeding: the CRC provides just one more reason to speak up and expect our government to respond.
President Bill Clinton signed the CRC, but ratification was blocked throughout the 1990s by the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Some conservative groups continue to oppose the CRC, and ratification was not a priority for the George W. Bush administration. However, Barack Obama said in a campaign speech that it was embarrassing for the U.S. to find itself in the company of Somalia as the only two nations that have not ratified the CRC. Recently, the U.S. campaign for ratification has been revitalized, and there is hope for U.S. ratification in the next four years. Watch for local events to kick off the Campaign on November 20, International Children's Day.
Chair's Column
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Welcome to the first USBC e-Newsletter!
2009 has been a pivotal year for the United States Breastfeeding Committee. The Board of Directors is working diligently and energetically to continue to strengthen the organization and refocus on the priorities laid out in our new strategic plan. Our sincere thanks go to the USBC member and coalition representatives who helped to ensure that our strategic decisions are based on representative feedback. To learn more about USBC's recent activities and accomplishments, please visit our Web site.
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Today I am thrilled to bring you USBC's first e-newsletter, with a feature article by USBC member Chris Mulford and coalition and member spotlight sections. Recurring newsletter sections will also include important news for breastfeeding advocates, opportunities for collaboration, and a wide assortment of tidbits from the media, advocacy, and coalition realms.
The e-newsletter will be published bi-monthly in the odd numbered months. But as you may have noticed, we do not yet have a name for the newsletter. This is where you come in!
Over the next month we'll be holding a naming contest for the newsletter. Have an idea? Please submit it online to enter the contest. The winning name will be announced in the next issue and will form the basis of the graphic design for future issues.
This is an exciting time for breastfeeding advocacy, as we continue to work to raise the profile of breastfeeding and support our nation's women and their families. We hope you will consider contributing to our efforts by participating in the One Dollar for Every Mom campaign. And please don't hesitate to contact us with any questions or suggestions you might have.
Sincerely,
Joan Younger Meek, MD, MS, RD, FAAP, FABM, IBCLC
Save the Date: The Third National Conference of State/Territory/Tribal Breastfeeding Coalitions—Empowering Coalitions: Power Tools for Change will be held January 23-25, 2010, in Arlington, Virginia.
The Inside Scoop
Click to learn more about these recent "happenings"…
Healthy People 2020 Draft Objectives were released in October—they include three new breastfeeding objectives:
- Increase the percentage of employers who have worksite lactation programs.
- Decrease the percentage of breast-fed newborns who receive formula supplementation within the first 2 days of life.
- Increase the percentage of live births that occur in facilities that provide recommended care for lactating mothers and their babies.
The Joint Commission published a new Perinatal Care Core Measure set, including its first ever performance measure on breastfeeding (PC-05: Exclusive Breast Milk Feeding).
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has endorsed the WHO/UNICEF 10 Steps to Successful Breastfeeding.
SHAPE magazine honored Best for Babes Co-Founder as one of ten "Women Who Shape the World."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the 2009 Breastfeeding Report Card in August. Congratulations to the following states that met all five Healthy People 2010 goals for breastfeeding initiation, duration, and exclusivity: California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Washington.
New York State passed the Breastfeeding Mothers' Bill of Rights.
Good News: The state of California took action against a taqueria owner who fired an employee for breastfeeding during her lunch break: Jesus Acosta of Acosta Tacos has been ordered to pay $46,645 in damages. Bad News: The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that firing a woman for taking unauthorized breaks to pump breast milk is not discrimination. USBC highlighted both of these cases at our November 4 Congressional Briefing on the Breastfeeding Promotion Act.
Collaboration Central
The National Alliance for Breastfeeding Advocacy: Research, Education, and Legal would like to collaborate on efforts to catalogue violations of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes for the next country report. Please contact NABA if you encounter Code violations on any Web sites, blogs, printed materials, or product packaging covered within the scope of the Code.
Do you have an opportunity for collaboration with other breastfeeding advocates? Please send us the who/what/when/where for inclusion in the next issue.
One Dollar for Every Mom
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USBC aims to raise One Dollar for Every New Mom in the United States. With these funds, we will make mothers' voices heard in ongoing national debates on health care, work-life balance, and consumer safety. The closer we come to representing each mother in America, the more clearly we can show the President and Congress: "Americans believe that EVERY MOTHER COUNTS." Help us reach the goal of one dollar for each new mother. Visit the campaign online and donate today!
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Member Spotlight: Baby-Friendly USA
Baby-Friendly USA is the national authority for the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) in the United States. The BFHI is a global program sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to encourage and recognize hospitals and birthing centers that offer an optimal level of care for lactation. The BFHI promotes, protects, and supports breastfeeding through the practice of the WHO/UNICEF Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding in birth facilities.
Baby-Friendly USA envisions an American culture that values the enduring effects of breastfeeding and human milk for mothers, babies, families, and society. The organization supports participating hospitals and birth centers in giving breastfeeding mothers the information, confidence, and skills needed to successfully initiate and continue breastfeeding through technical assistance and educational materials. Special recognition is given to all facilities that demonstrate compliance with the Ten Steps.
Research with more than 17,000 mother/baby pairs in Belarus indicates that breastfeeding initiation, duration, and exclusivity rates are higher in hospitals that have implemented the Ten Steps. Practicing the Ten Steps improves outcomes for all babies and mothers, regardless of feeding choice: the encouragement of skin-to-skin contact and rooming-in for all babies creates more opportunities for bonding and closeness in the first days.
Encourage your local maternity care facility to consider implementation of the Ten Steps by forming a Baby-Friendly Task Force. Contact the Baby-Friendly office for information.
Coalition Spotlight: Rhode Island Breastfeeding Coalition
The Rhode Island Breastfeeding Coalition (RIBC) was formed as an independent nonprofit organization in 1992, with a mission to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding in Rhode Island. A hallmark of the coalition's success has been its ability to effectively engage and retain a diverse range of community partners. The small size of the state allows RIBC to meet in person on a monthly basis, building a strong sense of community and accountability among members that is reinforced by a lively list serv.
Representatives of birthing hospitals, health insurance companies, WIC (including breastfeeding peer counselors), visiting nurse organizations, Early Head Start programs, public health clinics, private clinical practices, La Leche League, research organizations, and the Department of Health routinely meet to share a variety of institutional and consumer perspectives. RIBC prioritizes the maintenance of these representative links, ensuring seamless input and a collective voice for a responsive statewide coalition.
RIBC focuses on increasing breastfeeding knowledge and awareness among breastfeeding families and health care professionals, building community partnerships, and developing community resources. Defining projects of RIBC include active collaboration with insurers to define and expand existing breastfeeding benefits; networking with pharmacies and pharmacy schools to promote the use of appropriate breastfeeding pharmacology resources; successfully advocating for passage of legislation to support breastfeeding in the workplace and in public; and partnering with the Medical School at Brown University to engage medical students in these initiatives.
The coalition also launched a statewide Breastfeeding-Friendly Workplace Award program in partnership with the Health Department in 2006, received a DHHS Business Case for Breastfeeding grant in 2008, and partnered with the statewide CDC obesity prevention grant program in 2009 to identify funding to help sustain workplace efforts over the next four years. This funding source, the Initiative for a Healthy Weight, has supported numerous RIBC efforts that advance the integrated breastfeeding objectives in the state's Plan for Healthy Eating and Active Living. Each of these successes has capitalized on existing community relationships and resources to engage alternative partners in the vision that all babies in Rhode Island will be breastfed and breastfeeding will be accepted as the norm for infant feeding in Rhode Island.
With three of its seven birthing hospitals designated as "Baby Friendly," Rhode Island is poised to become the first "Baby Friendly state" in the nation. The largest birthing hospital, which delivers 70 percent of the births in Rhode Island, recently eliminated the distribution of free formula discharge bags, in part through the support of an Initiative for a Healthy Weight matching grant coordinated through RIBC. The Department of Health partners closely with RIBC to actively support and promote adoption of the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative, as well as other key breastfeeding initiatives.
In each issue we'll highlight a different state, territory, or tribal breastfeeding coalition, rotating between the regions so that one coalition from each region is highlighted each year.
Journal Review
Abrahams SW, Labbok MH. Exploring the impact of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative on trends in exclusive breastfeeding. Int Breastfeeding J. 2009;4(1):11. Read the abstract
Bartick M, Stuebe A, Shealy KR, Walker M, Grummer-Strawn LM. Closing the quality gap: promoting evidence-based breastfeeding care in the hospital. Pediatrics. 2009;124(4):e793-802. Read the abstract
Declercq E, Labbok MH, Sakala C, O'Hara M. Hospital practices and women's likelihood of fulfilling their intention to exclusively breastfeed. Am J Public Health. 2009;99(5):929-935. Read the abstract
Grummer-Strawn LM, Shealy KR. Progress in protecting, promoting, and supporting breastfeeding: 1984-2009. Breastfeed Med. 2009;4 Suppl 1:S31-39. Read the abstract
Renfrew MJ, Craig D, Dyson L, McCormick F, Rice S, King SE, Misso K, Stenhouse E, Williams AF. Breastfeeding promotion for infants in neonatal units: a systematic review and economic analysis. Health Technol Assess. 2009;13(40):1-146, iii-iv. Read the abstract
Coalition Queries
Need help to navigate the nonprofit law in your state? The National Council of Nonprofits has a network of state associations that provide state-specific resources and information. The Council also recently released a special report on the Economic Outlook for nonprofits.
Independent Sector and BoardSource have partnered to create a workbook based on the Principles for Good Governance and Ethical Practice. The Principles, developed by the Panel on the Nonprofit Sector in 2007, are 33 recommendations to help organizations of all sizes and missions as they work to improve their operations. Download a free copy of the workbook.
Action Alerts
Watch the Senate HELP Committee debate Senator Merkley's amendment to its health reform bill, which would provide breastfeeding mothers with break time and a private place to pump at work. The HELP Committee passed the amendment unanimously, and it is expected to remain in the merged Senate bill. Stay tuned for further updates as health reform progresses.
Tell Congress to Support the Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2009: Learn more and write to Congress through USBC's Action Alert page.
Sign MomsRising's petition to expand and strengthen Paid Family Leave: a crucial step towards giving mothers the time and support they need to begin and establish breastfeeding.
In the Media
Watch USBC members on Orlando's "Flashpoint" program: discussing breastfeeding in public with anchor (and breastfeeding mother) Lauren Rowe.
Breastfeeding advocates demand ethical marketing of human milk substitutes in a "Nestle Twitterstorm."
Breastfed baby denied health care coverage: "Your baby is too fat."
Breastfeeding: Food for Thought
Enjoy these breastfeeding commercials from other countries: