b'Making the National Breastfeeding Strategy more than amotherhood statement WORDS // DR JULIE SMITHB reastfeeding will remain under challenge in AustraliaWomens time is not free. As we dont document and until gaps in the new National Breastfeeding Strategyrespond to the opportunity cost of feeding and caring are filled by well-funded measures that genuinely valuefor babies and young children, policymakers take mothers and the work they do. Breastfeeding will remainwomens breastfeeding work for granted. To its credit, the under challenge until federal and state governments, not onlygovernment has reinstated the national time use survey mothers, are held accountable for progress through betterand breastfeeding may be included for the first time. data. Fewer than one in twenty Australian infants and youngHowever, no detailed national data on breastfeeding rates children are optimally fed. have been collected since 2010. We need good data on breastfeeding to monitor trends and develop better policy, The strategy, launched with little fanfare in August, suggestsat least comparable with the detailed, annual, up-to-date Australia values breastfeeding. Yet, while Australian womeninformation available on immunisation coverage.produce 44 million litres of milk a year for our infants and young children, none of it is counted in our food statistics,The new national strategy urges government departments unlike in Norway. There, 80 percent of mothers breastfeed at 6to adopt the Australian Breastfeeding Associations months, compared with just 60 per cent in Australia. breastfeeding friendly workplace program to encourage breastfeedingbut with no funding commitment to run it, If the government was really serious about supportingor incentives for workplaces to invest in it. Another positive breastfeeding, womens production of human milk would beinitiative in the strategy is testing a breastfeeding-friendly properly valued, including in economic statistics. My researchchildcare initiative, but again, no funding is identified to shows the breastmilk produced is worth at least $3.6 billion aensure action.year to our economy, using market values.The national strategy includes funding for the Australian Lets hope women dont start charging for it. Breastfeeding Associations National Breastfeeding Helpline and for the Red Cross Milk Bank. Yet, as in 2010, AustralianWe need more than the usual motherhood statementsgovernments have as yet made no commitments to funding to arrest rising rates of formula-feeding that is evident inthe other necessary actions in the new plan. It is time Victorian and NSW perinatal statistics. The minimal dataAustralian governments, at the very least, funded all their from the recent National Health Survey suggests exclusivematernal and newborn care facilities to meet the evidence-breastfeeding rates havent improved since at least 2014.based 10 Steps for Successful Breastfeeding set out by the This is no small matter. Reflecting recent scientific advancesWorld Health Organization (WHO).in understanding its importance for creating a healthy microbiome, breastfeeding was recently described in medicalThere is growing evidence around the world, including journal The Lancet as personalised medicine (Rollins, et al.,from WHO, the World Bank, NGOs and leading academic 2016). Avoidable health costs will continue to rise in Australiaresearchers that, while breastfeeding is difficult for on account of poor early nutrition. policymakers to deal with, it is worth the investment.My research shows the breastmilk produced is worth at least $3.6 billion a year to our economy, using market values. 20| Essence | Australian Breastfeeding Association December 2019Image courtesy of Emma Fry'