Breastfeeding News
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Hear Her Campaign
Every year, over 700 women die from problems related to pregnancy or delivery complications, which can occur up to a year after pregnancy. Two in three of these deaths are preventable. American Indian, Alaska Native, and Black women are two to three times more likely to die of pregnancy-related causes than white women. The Hear Her campaign was created to support the CDC’s efforts to prevent pregnancy-related deaths. Materials are available in both English and Spanish.
Follow this link to learn more. https://www.cdc.gov/hearher/
Updated March 2021
Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM) Statement: Considerations for COVID-19 Vaccination in Lactation
The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine published a public statement titled "Considerations for COVID-19 Vaccination in Lactation." The statement highlights information about two mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, urges vaccine manufacturers to include data for lactating individuals and their children in periodic safety reports, and recommends that future research studies routinely include pregnant and lactating participants.
Follow this link to learn more: https://abm.memberclicks.net/abm-statement-considerations-for-covid-19-vaccination-in-lactation
Updated March 2021
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Practice Advisory: Vaccinating Pregnant and Lactating Patients Against COVID-19
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists released a Practice Advisory titled "Vaccinating Pregnant and Lactating Patients Against COVID-19." The Practice Advisory is intended to be an overview of currently available COVID-19 vaccines and guidance for their use in pregnant and lactating patients.
Follow this link to learn more: https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/practice-advisory/articles/2020/12/vaccinating-pregnant-and-lactating-patients-against-covid-19
Updated March 2021
Infant Risk Center: COVID-19 Vaccine in Pregnancy and Breastfeeding
Infant Risk Center published a webpage titled "COVID-19 Vaccine in Pregnancy and Breastfeeding." The webpage compiles information and recommendations on COVID-19 vaccines during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
https://www.infantrisk.com/covid-19-vaccine-pregnancy-and-breastfeeding
Updated March 2021
Updated Guide for Breastfeeding Families, summarized from OWH
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health published an updated version of the "Your Guide to Breastfeeding" resource. The guide raises awareness of the importance of breastfeeding to help mothers give their babies the best start possible in life. The resource includes information for breastfeeding parents on how to breastfeed, where to find breastfeeding support, common questions, and more.
Updated November 2020
Position Paper on Safe Infant Sleep, summarized from ICEA
The International Childbirth Education Association published a position paper on safe infant sleep. The paper includes discussion on safety issues, understanding normal sleep and breastfeeding, and a list of sources for evidence-based information on safe sleep.
Updated November 2020
Breastfeeding Support Icons Now Available
The U.S. Breastfeeding Committee added a series of free downloadable icons, available in color and black and white, to the "Landscape of Breastfeeding Support" image gallery. The gallery also includes seven existing photo collections featuring more than 10,000 images that illustrate the types of support all breastfeeding families need and deserve. Images play an important role in normalizing breastfeeding and in reducing the societal and cultural barriers faced by breastfeeding families and can promote positive and fair portrayals of breastfeeding support in action. Upon agreeing to the Terms of Use, individuals may download any of the images.
Updated November 2020
Worksite Health Scorecard Updated, summarized from CDC
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a revised and updated "CDC Worksite Health ScoreCard." The tool is designed to help employers assess the extent to which they have implemented evidence-based health promotion interventions in their worksites. The Maternal Health and Lactation Support module includes questions on lactation accommodations in the workplace, paid leave, and other breastfeeding support.
Updated November 2020
Report on Nutrient Content of Human Milk, summarized from NASEM
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine published a report titled "Scanning for New Evidence on the Nutrient Content of Human Milk: A Model for the Derivation of Age-Specific Nutrient Requirements." The publication reports on a literature search and evidence scan of new and emerging peer-reviewed published literature on the nutrient content and volume of human milk as an indicator of infant nutritional requirements.
Updated November 2020
Article on Racial and Ethnic Disparities in COVID-19 and Pregnancy, summarized from IJBO
The International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics published a brief communication titled "Racial and ethnic disparities in severity of COVID‐19 disease in pregnancy in the United States." The publication describes a study reviewing the cases of women at an academic hospital‐based obstetrics practice diagnosed with COVID‐19 during pregnancy or within 8 weeks postpartum. The authors found that the majority of these patients belonged to racial or ethnic minority groups and concluded that this preliminary data set underscores the importance of collecting and reporting data based on race and ethnicity to better understand the impact of the pandemic.
Updated November 2020
2020 Breastfeeding Grand Rounds Airing Date Confirmed
The 2020 Breastfeeding Grand Rounds, Community Breastfeeding Support During Public Health Emergencies, will air on December 22nd, 2020 from 8:30 am to 10:30 am. Breastfeeding Grand Rounds is a collaborative partnership between the New York State WIC Program and the School of Public Health, University at Albany, State University of New York. It is a free webcast that airs during World Breastfeeding Week each year and offers continuing education credits for dietitians, nurses, physicians, IBCLCs, WIC staff, and others.
Register at https://www.albany.edu/cphce/bfgr20.shtml
Updated November 2020
New York Statewide Breastfeeding Coalition Annual Education Conference
Tentatively rescheduled to March 23rd, 2021 per the Eventbrite event.
The 6th Annual Education Conference titled, “Widening the Lens to Improve Lactation Outcomes for All” is currently postponed until further notice. For more information, click the Eventbrite event link.
U.S. Breastfeeding Committee New On-Demand Webinar Series Announced "National Breastfeeding Conference & Convening - Reimagined"
Join the USBC for the launch of our new on-demand webinar series titled "National Breastfeeding Conference & Convening Reimagined." NBCC Reimagined is a robust series of webcast sessions to be released each Monday during National Breastfeeding Month (and beyond!). Although this year's in-person event was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this series will showcase many of the outstanding presentations that had already been selected by the 2020 NBCC Conference Program Committee. The presentations will be offered on-demand and free of charge. The USBC is applying for continuing education (status pending).Learn more about each set of sessions.
Added September, 2020
State Reports on Maternity Care Practices that Support Breastfeeding, summarized from CDC
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the Maternity Practices in Infant Nutrition and Care (mPINC) State Reports. The CDC's national mPINC survey monitors infant feeding care practices and policies among all hospitals providing maternity care in the United States and territories. All hospitals with maternity services are invited to participate in CDC's mPINC survey. In 2018, 70% of all facilities chose to participate. State reports summarize the strength of breastfeeding support in hospitals in each state and territory, as well as the areas that could be improved. These reports identify opportunities for states to better protect, promote, and support breastfeeding mothers and infants. The mPINC survey was redesigned in 2018. Results from the 2018 mPINC survey cannot be compared with results from previous mPINC surveys. New York State scored 82, compared to a national score of 79.
Added September, 2020
Report on Birth Settings and Health Outcomes, summarized from NASEM
The National Academies for Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released a report titled " Birth Settings in America: Outcomes, Quality, Access, and Choice." The report reviews and evaluates maternal and newborn care in the United States, the epidemiology of social and clinical risks in pregnancy and childbirth, birth settings research, and access to and choice of birth settings. Breastfeeding initiation and exclusive breastfeeding rates were included among the performance measures. NASEM has also published report highlights and an infographic depicting key findings from the report.
Added September, 2020
Podcast on Collaboration during COVID-19, summarized from Collective Impact Forum
The Collective Impact Forum released a podcast episode titled "Collaborating during COVID-19. The podcast features discussion on how the collaborative work of Collective Impact Forum members is being affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Discussion topics included supporting exhausted community partners, figuring out how to build engagement around a new initiative during the pandemic, and how to keep long-term goals while meeting immediate program needs.
Added September, 2020
Congratulations 2020 Loving Support Gold Award Winner: Local Agency 285 Wycoff Hospital WIC Program
- Breastfeeding Coordinator Eileen Buckner, has had a leadership role in providing breastfeeding education and support for more than 25 years at the Wyckoff Hospital WIC Program.
- She meets regularly with the LAs 2 peer counselors (PCs) and routinely uses Loving Support materials to train new PCs, and to provide in-service sessions to all of the Wyckoff Hosp WIC Program nutrition staff members.
- Along with WIC Director Lydia Mutdhastira, Designated Breastfeeding expert Agata Socho-Lackranam and PCs Adelaida Tapia and Yolanda Ramates Guerrero, the BF team has had success with, assisting all sorts of breastfeeding dyads.
- One notable success involved a mother of triplets who was encouraged to breastfeed, and continued to do so for many months with support from the Wyckoff WIC breastfeeding team
- Now that the Wyckoff Hospital has achieved Baby Friendly status, the Wyckoff Hospital WIC Program
Wycoff Hospital WIC looks forward to attracting and working with many more WIC eligible families!
Added September 2020
Special Section on Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)
As communities around the nation respond to the global Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the USBC has continued to serve as a communication hub for the breastfeeding field. View the updated "Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies" webpage for key resources on COVID-19 and infant feeding. See the Staying Abreast: Weekly Wire archive for previous compilations of COVID-19 resources and updates.
Additionally, the New York State Department of Health website continues to be an updated and accurate source of information and resources during the pandemic.
United States Breastfeeding Committee 2019 Annual Report Released
This magazine-style digital annual report presents USBC's accomplishments and activities from 2019. It was a busy year with many highlights, including welcoming the largest and most diverse cohort of new USBC member organizations, securing $9 million in funding for the CDC's Hospitals Promoting Breastfeeding program, and passage of the Fairness for Breastfeeding Mothers Act. In addition to providing key insights and data from our work together in 2019, the report looks ahead at the vital work before us as we face this global pandemic. Download the report to learn more!
Healthy Children Project, Inc., Center for Breastfeeding
Due to the developing public health concerns presented by COVID-19, Healthy Children Project Inc., has converted the lactation counselor training into an online platform. Consisting of videos, self-check questions and competency verifications, this 52-hour online course (same time requirement as the face-to-face training) may be completed all at once or progress may be saved and continued.
Visit the Center for Breastfeeding website to find out more about the online conversion.
Visit the WICTC website for information on when this course may be offered.
Collective Impact Webinar Series
The United States Breastfeeding Committee is hosting a series of bi-monthly webinars as part of its efforts to "engage stakeholders in a Collective Impact model" (USBC Strategic Framework Goal 3). With funding support from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, this series will focus on building the capacity of the breastfeeding field to apply collective impact principles and tools to collaborative efforts for policy and practice change. Webinars are held every two months (in even numbered months) on the fourth Tuesday of the month from 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET.
Register for the webinar series
For more details and to view previously recorded webinars please visit: www.usbreastfeeding.org/equity
Envisioning a Breastfeeding-Friendly System
The United States Breastfeeding Committee hosts this series of bi-monthly webinars as part of its efforts to "create and model a culture of inclusion, diversity & equity" (USBC Strategic Framework Goal 4). With funding support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, this series will focus on building the capacity of the breastfeeding field to apply both an "equity lens" to inform and guide our external strategies and activities, but also an "equity mirror" to examine our internal structures, culture, and policies. Webinars are held every two months (in odd-numbered months) on the fourth Tuesday of the month from 2:00-3:30 p.m. ET. Register for the webinar series.
For more details and to view previously recorded webinars please visit: www.usbreastfeeding.org/equity
Free Breastfeeding and Pumping Images Available
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in partnership with the Georgia Breastfeeding Coalition, have published a group of royalty-free photos of breastfeeding and pumping in everyday settings. The photos are available through the CDC's State and Community Health Media Center at no cost to nonprofit organizations and government agencies. To access these photos, select "Nutrition: Breastfeeding" in the "Topics" dropdown menu while searching.
Break Time for Nursing Mothers
NYS law protects nursing mothers in the workplace. If or when mothers are not being given reasonable unpaid time to pump there are resources available to support them. Information on how to file a complaint through the Wage and Hour Division at the US Dept of Labor is included at the following link for those in need/interested https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/nursing-mothers. The link includes information on general guidance, applicable laws and additional resources.
Breastfeeding Grand Rounds 2019
The 2019 BFGR live webcast will discuss the prevalence of Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) among pregnant women and neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) in infants. Health professionals, women, and their families should understand that breastfeeding can play a key role in the treatment of NAS by decreasing its duration and severity. This webcast will provide resources for identifying pregnant, breastfeeding, and post-partum women with OUD, strategies and tools for discussing it with them, and approaches to refer them to the most appropriate options for support and follow up.
Click here to view the archived webinar recording and obtain credits.
Spanish Breastfeeding Support Materials Available
As part of the WIC Breastfeeding Support Learn Together, Grow Together campaign, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has released materials in Spanish! Staff and partners can visit the campaign website for access to handouts in Spanish. Please download, print and share with moms to help them meet their breastfeeding goals.
The 2017 NYS WIC PedNSS statewide data was recently released and reflects the following key breastfeeding findings:
- The breastfeeding initiation rate continued to increase from 84.8 percent in 2016 to 85.3 percent in 2017, with increases across all racial/ethnic groups except for Whites, whose rates remained the same (Table 19C). Asians and American Indian/Alaskan Natives had the largest increase (2.8 and 1.2 percentage points, respectively). Whites (with the initiation rate at 80.1%) was the only racial/ethnic group that did not reached the HP2020 breastfeeding initiation goal of 81.9% in 2017.
- There were slight improvements in breastfeeding duration indicators in the 2017 PedNSS report compared to those in the 2016 report (Table 3C). In particular, 55.7 percent (vs. 55.3%), 42.0 percent (vs. 41.4%), and 25.1 percent (vs. 24.2%) of infants in the 2017 (vs. 2016) cohort were breastfed for ≥3, ≥6, and ≥12 months, respectively. The NYS WIC program continued to make progress toward meeting the HP2020 objectives for breastfeeding ≥6 months (60.6%) and ≥12 months (34.1%).
- In 2017, the overall prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding at ≥3 months and at ≥6 months remained steady compared to 2016 (15.3% vs. 15.1%, and 9.2% vs. 9.2%, respectively) (Table 3C)