Alcohol & Breastfeeding Web Page

Not drinking alcohol is the safest option for breastfeeding mothers. Generally, moderate alcohol consumption by a breastfeeding mother (up to 1 standard drink per day) is not known to be harmful to the infant, especially if the mother waits at least 2 hours after a single drink before nursing. However, exposure to alcohol above moderate levels through breast milk could be damaging to an infant’s development, growth, and sleep patterns.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently launched a new web page to better inform health care providers and nursing mothers,to provide guidance on consuming alcohol while breastfeeding.

Safe management of expressed breast milk

The Sax Institute has published Evidence check: safe management of expressed breast milk. The authors summarise the evidence on this topic in hospitals, the home and in the community and conclude that expressed breast milk can be safely stored at -20 degrees Celsius for up to 12 months, however frozen storage at any temperature will result in degradation of the immunological components of EBM that provide protection against contamination.

An extensive literature review revealed that the main issues were the possible contamination of EBM due to improper handling, the loss of nutritional value during transport and storage and the small risk that the "wrong baby" might receive milk from someone other than their mother.

The results of this review uphold many of the findings and recommendations of the current policy developed by NSW Health (Maternity – Breast Milk: Safe Management) and the latest NHMRC infant feeding guidelines.

Mothers and babies bedsharing

This week's Health Report on ABC Radio National, included an interview with Catherine Fetherston from Murdoch University, whose article in Breastfeeding Review late last year provoked some controversy.  In the interview (read the transcript or listen here), Fetherston questioned the current recommendations which caution against babies sleeping with their mothers as a risk for SIDS.  She states that this is not evidence-based as other risk factors have not been accounted for, such as smoking, alcohol consumption, sleeping in a chair or on a sofa.

Analysis of the ethical issues in the breastfeeding and bedsharing debate, Fetherston, C. & Leach J.
Breastfeed Rev. 2012 Nov;20(3):7-17.

2010 Australian national infant feeding survey: indicator results

The 2010 Australian National Infant Feeding Survey is the first specialised national survey of infant feeding practices in Australia. The survey also collected information on attitudes towards, and enablers for and barriers against breastfeeding. This report by AIHW provides baseline data on key infant feeding indicators, including: most babies (96%) were initially breastfed, but only 39% were exclusively breastfed for less than 4 months, and 15% for less than 6 months; overall 35% of infants were introduced to solid foods by 4 months of age and 92% by the recommended age of 6 months; around 7% of infants drank cow's milk by 6 months, with most not starting until the recommended age of 12 months.

National Breastfeeding Indicators

The Australian Institute of Health & Welfare has released National Breastfeeding Indicators, a report presenting the outcomes of a consensus workshop held in December last year. The purpose of the workshop was to make decisions on a set of breastfeeding indicators that would support the reporting of national breastfeeding trends, and thereby the evaluation of the Australian National Breastfeeding Strategy 2010–2015 and related policies and programs.  A set of draft  indicators was discussed for suitability, stability, simplicity and measurability and the following set was agreed:

• proportion of children ever breastfed (for children aged 0–24 months)
• proportion of children breastfed at each month of age, 0–24 months
• proportion of children exclusively breastfed to each month of age, 0–6 months
• proportion of children predominantly breastfed to each month of age, 0–6 months
• proportion of children receiving soft/semi-solid/solid food at each month of age, 0–12 months
• proportion of children receiving non-human milk or formula at each month of age, 0–12 months.