Community Spotlight: Continued from page 5

USDA, as part of the public administrative process for generating regulations, will put the IOM committee's recommendations out for public comment and will use these comments to formulate the final rules.

World Breastfeeding Week 2005
Celebrate World Breastfeeding Week this year by promoting exclusive breastfeeding and raising awareness of the risks and costs of introducing other foods to breastfed babies before six months.:

  • Exclusive breastfeeding is sufficient to support optimal growth and development for approximately the first six months of life;
  • Breastfeeding should be continued for at least the first year of life and beyond for as long as mutually desired by mother and child;
  • Complementary foods rich in iron should be introduced gradually beginning around 6 months of life; earlier introduction in general does not increase total caloric intake...[but] only substitutes foods that lack the protective components of human milk; (6).
  • Initial breastfeeding protects against obesity later in life (7).
  • Early exposure of formula feeding and rapid growth in infancy are risk factors for diabetes in children (8).
Celebrate World Breastfeeding Week throughout the year and in 2006 by working with WIC programs to improve the WIC food package in a way that supports breastfeeding. 		References:
  1. MSchwartz, J. B., Popkin, B.M., Tognetti, J. & Zohoori, N. Does WIC participation improve breast-feeding practices? American Journal of Public Health, 1995; 85(5), 729-731
  2. Chatterji P, Brooks-Gunn J. WIC participation, breastfeeding practices, and well-child care among unmarried, low-income mothers. Am J Public Health. 2004 Aug;94(8):1324-7
  3. Kisten, N., Abramson, R. & Dublin, P. Effect of peer counselors on breastfeeding initiation, exclusivity, and duration among low-income urban women. Journal of Human Lactation, 1994; 10 (1), 11-15
  4. Bronner Y, Barber T, Vogelhut J, Resnik AK. Breastfeeding peer counseling: results from the National WIC Survey. J Hum Lact. 2001 May;17(2):119-25
  5. Committee to Review the WIC Food Packages, Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. WIC Food Packages: Time for a Change. National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., 2005
  6. American Academy of Pediatrics, Section on Breastfeeding, Policy Statement: Breastfeeding and the Use of Human Milk. Pediatrics, 2005; 115(2):496-506
  7. Owen, C.G., Martin, R.M., Whincupp, P.H., Smith, G.D. & Cook, D.G. Effect of infant feeding on the risk of obesity across the life course: a quantitative review of published evidence. Pediatrics, 2005; 115 (5), 1367-1377
  8. Hypponen E, Kenward MG, Virtanen SM, Piitulainen A, Virta-Autio P, Tuomilehto J, Knip M, Akerblom HK. Infant feeding, early weight gain, and risk of type 1 diabetes. Childhood Diabetes in Finland (DiMe) Study Group. Diabetes Care. 1999 Dec;22(12):1961-5
SB 600: HEALTHY CALIFORNIANS BIOMONITORING PROGRAM
Nancy E. Wight MD, IBCLC, FABM, FAAP

After much deliberation, the San Diego County Breastfeeding Coalition endorsed Senate Bill 600 (Ortiz & Perata), the Healthy Californians Biomonitoring Program, which seeks to establish a statewide community-based monitoring program using biospecimens such as urine, blood and breastmilk. The resulting data can be used to improve public health by identifying communities disproportionately affected by chemical exposures; assessing the effectiveness of current legislative regulations; creating a base for prioritizing regulatory action, and improving support for breastfeeding as a means of ameliorating the harmful effects of the chemicals found.

The greatest risk from exposure to harmful chemicals is the period in utero, but toxic chemicals have been found in both artificial infant formulas and human milk. The presence of chemicals in breastmilk is NOT a reason to stop breastfeeding. Infants fed artificial milks are at higher risk for poor outcomes as they are not only exposed to toxic

chemicals, but lack the myriad of protective factors found in human milk, including anti-inflammatory agents, anti-oxidants, direct anti-infective factors, immunomodulators, hormones, growth factors and multiple other bioactive factors.

Breastmilk, and the other biospecimens, can yield valuable information regarding the kinds and quantities of chemicals found in all our bodies. SB 600 addresses the use of breastmilk for biomonitoring with care, so that women are not deterred from breastfeeding, through coordination with the Maternal, Child & Adolescent Branch of the Department of Health Services, an advisory panel including a breastfeeding advocate, and coordination with other organizations to develop Biomonitoring materials, protocols, training programs and public education materials.

As breastfeeding advocates and educators we should stand together with environmental health proponents to promote breastfeeding while demanding the elimination of harmful chemicals that are contaminating California's children. We should clearly make the case that breastfeeding has even more advantages in our polluted environment.

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