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March 07-09, 2019 | London, UK
2
nd
International Conference on
7
th
International Conference on
Food Safety and Hygiene
Nutrition, Food Science and Technology
Joint Event
&
Journal of Food Technology and Preservation | Volume 3
Supporting and protecting breastfeeding in hospital and at home
Jo Watt
Hearts Milk Bank, UK
B
reastfeeding rates in the UK are amongst the lowest in
Europe, despite many women who give up saying that they
had intended to breastfeed for much longer. It is acknowledged
that there are many reasons for this, but often lack of specialist
support, knowledge and encouragement to continue,
are reasons given for discontinuing and rates to be low.
Getting support in the first few days is crucial to keeping
breastfeeding on track. After just the first week it
becomes increasingly difficult to maintain breastfeeding
once problems have arisen, supplementation has
started, and the mothers supply has been compromised.
Add to this increasing numbers of mothers and babies
delivering with complex conditions and needs, and babies born
prematurely requiring admission to the neonatal unit. This
results inmothers and babies needing to be separated, which in
itself can make establishing breastfeeding much more difficult.
This is also the group of mothers and babies where there can
be a lack of knowledge and skills to help manage and give this
much needed care to establish and maintain breastfeeding.
Lack of practical knowledge and skills is known to be associated
with increased formula supplementation and early drop
off, instead of supporting and establishing breastfeeding.
This presentation will include details of the supportive
interventions required to ensure optimal support of new
mothers in hospital and examples of typical problems seen
by Lactation Consultants working with mothers at home.
Speaker Biography
Jo Watt is a midwife and IBCLC Lactation Consultant. Having qualified as a midwife,
she gained extensive experience of working in both hospital and community settings.
After raising her own family, she became interested in infant feeding and breastfeeding
support, and trained as a breastfeeding counsellor. Since that time, she has built her
career around her passion for supporting mothers in making the best feeding choices
for their child, helping to create the necessary infrastructure and processes within the
health service, and engaging directly with mothers to provide one-to-one support.
Jo has worked in two NHS Trusts as the Infant Feeding Lead and the project lead for
Baby Friendly Accreditation, delivering training programmes for midwifery staff, and
establishing best practices for feeding support within the maternity units. Following
this, she has been practising within the community, including voluntary work as part of
the team in an NHS feeding clinic and consultation through a small lactation practice.
Jo’s primary current activity is as the Lactation Services Co-ordinator at the Hearts Milk
Bank, a charity established in Hertfordshire to help provide supplies of donated breast
milk tomothers nationwide. She is involved in donor recruitment and lactation support,
and also supports families in the community where donor milk is used to help mothers
having feeding problems. For these mothers, extra feeding support and access to
screened donor milk can provide a buffer until they have an increase in their own supply
or simply provide breast milk that wouldn’t be available because of maternal illness.
e:
jo.watt@ntlworld.comJo Watt
, J Food Technol Pres, Volume 3
DOI: 10.4066/2591-796X-C1-005