Breastfeeding news
SUPPORTING BREASTFEEDING IN HAITI
International aid organizations and indi- viduals alike rushed to help Haiti after the devastating earthquake on January 12. How- ever, not everything that was sent was well received. On January 25, a group of US-based breastfeeding organizations—the Human Milk Banking Association of North America (HMBANA), United States Breastfeeding Committee, International Lactation Con- sultant Association/United States Lactation Consultant Association, and La Leche League International—issued an “Urgent Call for Hu- man Milk Donations for Haiti Infants.” The US Navy Ship Comfort was shipped 500 ounces of donated frozen breastmilk. The “Urgent Call” asked women in the US to donate more breastmilk to HMBANA milk banks, only some of which might go to Haiti. The donor milk that did go to Haiti went solely to the ship’s NICU, because no Haitian facility can preserve and distribute it. In short order, international aid agencies
in Haiti reported that there had been no request from aid organizations in Haiti for donated breastmilk, and US Navy staff said
that the donated milk was not being used. UNICEF, the World Health Organization, and the World Food Programme issued a joint statement asking that the milk shipments stop. The Emergency Nutrition Network explained that it is a myth that “stressed or malnourished women cannot breastfeed.” The US breastfeeding organizations quickly withdrew the “Urgent Call,” and posted a statement supporting aid organizations in Haiti that are helping Haitian women get and keep babies feeding at the breast. One organization helping Haitian
women to breastfeed is Circle of Health International (COHI), which is sending mid- wives, lactation professionals, and birthing supplies. UNICEF and Action Against Hunger have built several tents in the capital city of Port-au-Prince as safe places for Haitian women to breastfeed and get lactation support. These organizations remain in dire need of cash contributions. No further ship- ments of donated breastmilk to Haiti are planned by any organization.
—Jake Aryeh Marcus
Bye-bye, baby brain
You can’t blame your foggy head on pregnancy—Baby Brain is a myth. According to a new study by researchers at Australian National University, the belief that women suff er more memory lapses and absentmindedness during pregnancy doesn’t hold up to scientifi c scrutiny. The study results were published in
the February 2010 issue of the British Jour-
nal of Psychiatry. Researchers assessed
more than 1,000 women aged 20 to 24 for cognitive speed, working memory, and immediate and delayed recall, at four-year intervals beginning in 1999.
No signifi cant diff erences were found between women who were pregnant and those who were not. Nor were any
signifi cant diff erences found between mothers and non-mothers. The study found only a slight decrease in perfor- mance, during late pregnancy, on one of
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mothering | May–June 2010
four cognitive-functioning tests.
The study’s conclusion that
women’s cognitive ability does not suff er from pregnancy or mother- hood contradicts previous studies
on the topic. The authors suggest that a bias may have been pres- ent in previous studies, which may have recruited women who were anxious about their pregnancies, de- pressed, or sleep deprived. To read the full paper,
“Cognition in Pregnancy and Motherhood: Prospec- tive Cohort Study,” by Helen Christensen and Liana S. Leach, see http://bjp.rcpsych.
org/cgi/content/full/196/2/126
(access fee required).
—Laura Andre
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