What strategies are effective in prolonging breastfeeding - Essay Example

Also, breast milk is economical, readily available (NHS, 2007), and could positively affect the child’s IQ level. (Angelsen et al., 2001) For this reason, the World Health Organization (WHO) strongly recommends mothers to breastfeed their baby up to the first 6th month of age (WHO, 2007) while others recommend that breastfeeding should last up to the 12th month of age (National Health and Medical Research Council, 2003). Considering the benefits of breastfeeding, it is necessary to determine several strategies that could prolong the breastfeeding between the nursing mother and a new born infant.

In the process, the research study will contribute a lot to the “Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative” (BFHI) project that was organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) back in 1992 in order to promote a global breast-feeding practice. (Unicef, 2007) A lot of mothers are experiencing difficulties related to breastfeeding during the early part of postpartum period. There are quite a number of factors such as the type of labour and birth (Jordan et al.

, 2005; Henderson et al., 2003; Rowe-Murray & Fisher, 2002; Sinusas & Gagliardi, 2001) as well as nutritional intake the expectant mother (McCrory et al., 1999) has been exposed with may affect the production of breast milk among the newly mothers. A good example related to the type of labour is the research study conducted by Torvaldsen et al. (2006), Baumgarder et al. (2003, and Henderson et al. (2003) showing the use of epidurals or adding fentanyl (an opoid) to epidurals analgesia during the time the expectant mother is in labour blocks the opportunity for mothers to fully breastfed their infants few days after the delivery.

Eventually, the drug ceases breast milk production during or right after the first 24 weeks. Although it has been noted that the use of epidurals could result to difficulty in breastfeeding, the impact of