Breastfeeding Resources for Health Professionals
Documents & promotional materials
Videos
Breastfeeding Basics
Breastfeeding: Getting started (0:06)
Chapter 1: Starting out (0:32)
Chapter 2: Getting closer (1:55)
Chapter 3: What to expect (3:55)
Chapter 4: Feeding cues (5:04)
Chapter 5: Making feeding comfortable for you and baby (6:03)
Baby-led attachment (6:52)
Mother-led attachment (7:39)
Chapter 6: How do I know if baby is getting enough? (10:58)
Hand expressing (12:02)
Reverse pressure softening (12:13)
Chapter 7: Help and encouragement (12:30)
Articles
Oral Effects of Breastfeeding
The risks of not breastfeeding are many and varied. Perhaps less well-known is the importance of breastfeeding for children with regards to their oral development. Breastfeeding maximises the correct development of speech organs (tongue, lips, mandible, maxilla, soft palate, hard palate, cheeks, dental arches, oral muscles, floor of mouth), with respect to posture, mobility and strength.
Covid-19
There is still much to be learned about the transmission process of the coronavirus (COVID-19). What is well known, however, is that breastfeeding provides infants with protection against a range of viral infections including lower respiratory tract infections (LRTs) and health professionals can reassure breastfeeding mothers that they can continue to breastfeed.
How does women’s bone health recover after lactation? A systematic review and meta-analysis.
This study is a systematic review of the literature addressing women’s bone health during and after lactation. The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate the rate of bone-mass recovery after lactation related loss. A systematic review and meta-analysis were performed of the literature including PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus databases using relevant key words. It included women of reproductive age, who had 2 assessments of bone density in the postpartum period. The review found 9455 papers, 8812 not included, 189 excluded due to duplication, 454 used for full manuscript analysis. Of these, 32 were used for the systematic review and 7 of those for meta-analysis. The follow-up period in this review ranged between one and 3.6 years postpartum.
Maternal mood symptoms in pregnancy and postpartum depression: association with exclusive breastfeeding in a population-based birth cohort.
The importance of breastfeeding is well established. A lack of exclusive breastfeeding increases the risk of infectious diseases, diarrhoea, respiratory illness, food allergies and gastrointestinal disorders. Regarding maternal health, a lack of breastfeeding increases the risk of breast and ovarian cancer and type 2 diabetes.
Improved brain growth and microstructural development in breast milk-fed very low birth weight premature infants.
This study compared quantitative MRI findings between 44 predominantly human milk-fed and 24 predominantly formula-fed preterm infants. All infants were born at <32 weeks gestational age and <1500 g. They were classified as formula-fed or breastmilk-fed according to what composed the majority of their nutrition according to NICU records. Pasteurised donor milk was available to complement maternal milk if parents consented, until 34 weeks. At approximately term equivalent age, quantitative MRI was used to measure total and regional brain volume and to investigate white matter microstructure.
Is the Occurrence of Ankyloglossia in Newborns Associated with Breastfeeding Difficulties?
This Brazilian study compared 2 tongue-tie assessment tools and looked for an association between a diagnosis of tongue-tie and breastfeeding difficulties or cessation of exclusive breastfeeding. The 2 tools were the Bristol Tongue Assessment Tool (BTAT) and the Assessment Tool for Lingual Frenulum Function (Neonatal Tongue Screening Test ─ NTST).
