Breast milk is the best food for babies. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding for at least the first six months of life and continuing to breastfeed for up to two years or more, whenever possible.
And the properties of this liquid gold are so incredible that the WHO defends it even if the mother has coronavirus. But until now it was not known to what extent in the middle of the pandemic, mothers have continued to breastfeed.
To this end, Medela has conducted a survey of 570 mothers from 5 European countries (Poland, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain). 88 percent of the Spanish mothers surveyed have maintained breastfeeding despite Covid-19 . Only 1% have decided not to feed their baby with breast milk and another 1% to interrupt breastfeeding due to Covid.
Confidence in breast milk has increased with the coronavirus
Only Polish mothers outnumber Spanish mothers in breastfeeding confidence: 89% of them stated that they decided to breastfeed despite the coronavirus, a figure that reaches 82% in Germany, 75% in the United Kingdom and 64% in France.
In many cases, mothers’ confidence in breast milk has increased: 9% of Spanish mothers stated that they had increased the frequency with which they breastfed due to the pandemic . In fact, mothers in our country are the most proactive of all those surveyed.
On the other hand, 68% of Spanish mothers stated that they breastfed or gave breast milk to their baby with the same frequency as if there were no coronavirus. A lower percentage than German (76%), Polish (74%) women, but higher than British (58%) and French (53%) women.
But there is more: the possibility of possible antibodies in breast milk is being considered.
Reasons not to breastfeed
Normally before the birth of her child the mother has already decided whether or not to feed her child with breast milk. Thus, before the pandemic, 89% of the Spanish mothers surveyed had the intention of breastfeeding their newborn , the same percentage as the German ones. Also, 91% of Polish mothers, 79% of British mothers and 66% of French mothers wanted to do it.
However, the pandemic impacted on that decision. According to the survey, the mothers who mostly opted for this option were French, 12% of those surveyed, compared to only 1% of Spanish women.
Regarding the effects of the pandemic on the maintenance of breastfeeding, only 1% of Spanish mothers interrupted breastfeeding , compared to 6% of Polish, 4% of French, and 3% of British and German.
Also due to Covid, 11% of Spanish mothers chose to continue breastfeeding, but less frequently; This decision was also made by 8% of Polish mothers, 7% of British mothers, 5% of French mothers and 3% of German mothers.
The factors that most concerned mothers when breastfeeding or expressing milk were:
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The risk of infection has not yet been sufficiently investigated.
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Fear of being infected and infecting the baby by placing it on the breast.
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Fear that the virus will be transmitted through breast milk.
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Have advice with breastfeeding problems.
Via | Medela
In Babies and More | Respected delivery is a reality in the Torrejón Hospital, also in times of COVID, skin-to-skin contact is key to the early initiation of breastfeeding in premature babies
