What should a local infant feeding strategy say about infant feeding support in emergencies? What emergency planning is required in a UK context and what actions are needed to protect mothers and babies when emergencies occur?

During the recent COVID-19 epidemic, many mothers experienced a lack of support with feeding their babies as services were unable to run as normal. Climate change is contributing to an increase in natural disasters such as flooding in the UK. There are also many families experiencing food insecurity as a result of the current cost of living crisis, or due to personal circumstances such as migration or domestic abuse.

In an emergency, breastfeeding provides immune protection and safe nutrition and fluids for babies, while providing both mother and child with comfort and resilience against stress. Skilled breastfeeding support is essential during emergencies, to enable breastfeeding dyads to continue.

Infants who are dependent on formula need access to clean water, to a supply of suitable formula, and to hygienic preparation facilities and feeding equipment, and suitably trained support from responders and staff.

Some issues to consider in developing a local infant feeding strategy include:

• working with your Local Resilience Forum, to ensure that the needs of infants are considered in local resilience planning.
• developing pathways across the system to ensure that families are referred appropriately for breastfeeding support and that there are agreed and well-understood processes for providing infant formula when needed.
• incorporating best practice guidelines including Operational Guidance on Infant Feeding in Emergencies and UNICEF UK guidance on supporting families with infants under 12 months experiencing food insecurity.

This is one of a series of guest webinars that Better Breastfeeding is hosting to support the development of local breastfeeding and infant feeding strategies.

Who this webinar is for

• LMNS leads and LA commissioners developing system-wide breastfeeding strategies
• professionals involved in local resilience forums and planning for emergencies
• infant feeding leads, lactation consultants and breastfeeding counsellors
• anyone with an interest in supporting breastfeeding in emergencies

Presenter

Helen Gray

Helen Gray is Joint Coordinator of the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi) project in the UK.

She represents La Leche League of Great Britain on the UK Baby Feeding Law Group (BFLG), which works to bring the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes into UK law, and has served as Policy and Advocacy Lead for Lactation Consultants of Great Britain.

Helen’s background in anthropology and human evolution has influenced her interest in how breastfeeding, and the way we nurture our babies, are influenced by both human biology and culture.

Her current advocacy focus is the need for strong policies to protect infant feeding in emergencies. She has written several articles and chapters on the subject and served on the Advisory Panel for a London Food Resilience research project.