Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to begin by thanking all members of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health and Ageing, especially the chair, Alex Somlyay, the member for Fairfax, for his great chairing of the meetings of this inquiry. I would like to thank the secretariat—Mr James Catchpole, the secretary, Ms Pauline Brown, and Meg Byrne and Lauren Walker—for all their assistance in making this committee work and run so smoothly. I would also like to thank all the individuals who lodged submissions with the committee and the witnesses who attended the hearings for being part of the inquiry into the benefits of breastfeeding. The inquiry and its subsequent report would not have been possible without the assistance and input of all these people.

It was good to see that the inquiry generated nearly 500 submissions—in fact, a total of 497 submissions. There was a great amount of public interest. There was a flood of submissions to the health and ageing committee. At some of our hearings, there was standing room only for people who came to watch the proceedings.

The report, titled The best start—report of the inquiry into the health benefits of breastfeeding, found that many different factors may influence a mother’s decision to provide breast milk or to use formula for her newborn child. It found that a mother’s decision to use one feeding method over another may be related to cultural background, the mother’s health or a personal preference. Whichever decision a mother comes to, they should be supported by the Australian community and Australia’s health system because it is the responsibility of every new mother to assess her own personal circumstances when making a decision about whether to breastfeed or to use a formula. It is our role to ensure that the services are in place so that Australian mums have the information they need to make an informed decision.

Breastfeeding has been practised for centuries. Breastfeeding is very natural; it is one of the most natural occurrences that takes place in a woman’s life. Somehow, we in the Western world have made it very clinical over a couple of generations. The key to promoting breastfeeding is in educating our society to better understand what it means to breastfeed. Education about breastfeeding and how to breastfeed is very much needed for a new mother in pregnancy and soon after the birth of her child so that she is aware of the short- and long-term health benefits and has all the information in front of her to make an informed choice on whether she breastfeeds or not. There should be a concerted effort to change the attitude of society so that, once again, breastfeeding becomes a very natural, normal thing that takes place in a woman’s life.

How do we change an entire society’s view of this issue? That is the big question. We have somehow, as I said earlier, changed breastfeeding from something that was very natural for thousands of years, passed from mother to daughter, generation to generation, to something that is no longer the cultural norm.

The report of the inquiry into breastfeeding outlines the health and other benefits of breastfeeding, noting that breastfeeding protects against gastrointestinal and respiratory illnesses and ear infections, just to name a few. These illnesses have the ability to impact adversely on the health of a newborn baby. Breastfeeding has also been identified as a factor in contributing towards lowering obesity and the prevalence of chronic disease later on in life. Despite these benefits, many women who have the capacity to breastfeed are choosing not to breastfeed their child up to the recommended age of six months, let alone to the World Health Organisation’s ideal age of 12 months. Here in Australia, only 18 per cent of mothers are fully breastfeeding their child to the age of six months. To increase the number of mothers breastfeeding their babies up to six months, women need support and advice from health professionals.

The report found that the Commonwealth should take a greater role in promoting and educating Australians about breastfeeding and infant health. Poor nutrition in infancy has a significant impact on the future health of many Australians. An improvement in health in infancy would reduce the pressure on our health system. Implementing and supporting preventive measures such as breastfeeding in our health system has the capacity to ease the burden on Australia’s hospitals and medical facilities in the future.

We know that demands on our health services are set to rise in the future. We are now seeing an increasing number of children with chronic illnesses in the middle stages of their development. The prevalence of asthma in Australia is one of the highest in the world, affecting up to 14 per cent of Australian children. Breastfeeding may be used as a preventive measure to lower the number of children in Australia who develop respiratory illness later in life. Prevention, as we all know, is better than cure. Provision of comprehensive child and maternal health services, such as breastfeeding support services, will play a vital role in improving infant and child health.

Knowing, as we do, the health benefits of breastfeeding, there should be a concerted effort by leaders within the Australian community to break down any inhibitors to breastfeeding within social and workplace settings. From the many various submissions to the inquiry there emerged examples where workplaces persuaded women not to breastfeed at work. Knowing the health benefits of breastfeeding, workplaces should endeavour to encourage women to breastfeed their newborns by creating work environments that are supportive and accepting of a mother’s decision whether or not to breastfeed. We saw some great examples when we visited the Westpac workplace in the city of Sydney, where they had rooms set up so that employees, mothers of infants, who wanted to breastfeed would be able to do so. That was a great example to many other employers. We need to set up these places to encourage mums to continue to breastfeed.

As I said, parents should be able to focus on their top priority straight after childbirth, their newborn baby, and we have to somehow make it easier for them. There are great psychological and physical health benefits for babies whose mothers spend time with them during the early months of their lives, including the internationally recognised benefits of breastfeeding.

In Australia, there are sometimes cultural inhibitors to breastfeeding, such as the stigmatisation of women who feed their babies in public. This creates a series of problems for mothers who want to breastfeed, as they feel they cannot feed in public; they are often driven indoors or out of sight, making it too difficult for them and therefore causing them to give up.

This is not the case in many other developing and even developed countries around the globe where there are support systems and open promotion of breastfeeding for newborns, making it more accessible and easier for mothers to do so. In some developed and developing countries where breastfeeding has become culturally acceptable, there is a noticeable reduction in child mortality rates. So it is important that breastfeeding is coupled with peer support. According to a witness in the inquiry, peer support is a proven way of normalising breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding rates declined rapidly to the point where in 1971 only about 20 per cent of babies were being breastfed to three months of age. Currently the rate of breastfeeding is up at 60 per cent. Australia is still getting over the normalisation of bottle feeding. Breastfeeding rates did decrease in the fifties, reaching a low point in the late sixties and early seventies. This was a result of a combination of the availability of infant formula and the promotion of the use of formula by the health system.

Since then, the breastfeeding rates have increased slowly. From the current available data, a conclusion may be drawn that mothers with newborn babies initially want to breastfeed soon after they give birth. The data shows that the rates for breastfeeding are initially extremely high while the mother is still hospitalised or recently out of hospital. However, the impact of a number of different factors such as demographics, psychological health, physical health, cultural and societal influences have led to many mothers stopping using breast milk to feed their child.

In order to ensure that we can continue to accurately monitor the use of breastfeeding across the nation, the inquiry also recommended that there be improvements in the methodology used to monitor breastfeeding. The recommendations included increasing the quality of data on breastfeeding and coming to a consensus on one definition for breastfeeding. With these changes we will be able to collate more accurate data and make well-informed comparisons between breastfeeding and infant health.

Representatives of the breastfeeding phone counselling services who appeared as witnesses to the inquiry estimated that they receive around 200,000 calls annually from new mothers who need support. From this data it appears that there is a high demand for support from new mums who are having difficulty feeding their child and are worried about whether they are giving their child the nutrients they require to lead healthy lives.

We also saw examples during the inquiry of particular marketing companies that target their products towards infants and toddlers, whether they be formula or other products. There were also claims from companies which manufacture fruit juice that their products included all the nutrients that children need for their daily intake. Some of these companies are using marketing tools that impact negatively on breastfeeding rates.

Many witnesses to the inquiry brought information forward about the importance of breast milk and how difficult it is to find a replacement that provides the same nutrients to children. However, not all mothers are in the situation where they are able to breastfeed and we should not isolate those people as being poor examples of motherhood. Again, it comes down to the choice of the mum.

It is understandable that formula companies are in the market to make a profit and that is why many of these companies encourage the use of breast milk substitutes and run sometimes very effective marketing campaigns. This is where health professionals need to be there to advise mums on the best course of action they should take in order to give their child the best possible care.

We need an education campaign about breastfeeding so that women can make informed decisions about what is best for their child. We know independent health professionals need to be available to provide the right information to mothers but without bias. As education among mums about breastfeeding increases, we will be able to be increasingly satisfied that they are making the right decisions and the right choices. So it has become clear as a result of this inquiry that new mums need to be more informed about breastfeeding and to be given the support that they require to provide the best nutritional care for their newborn.

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