Breastfeeding: A Multimedia Learning Resource for Healthcare Professionals

Citation

Weaver, G. (1999), "Breastfeeding: A Multimedia Learning Resource for Healthcare Professionals", Health Education, Vol. 99 No. 2, pp. 84-85. https://doi.org/10.1108/he.1999.99.2.84.1

This CD‐ROM on breastfeeding provides support and help for the management of this very important aspect of child rearing. Professionals and non‐professionals alike will find it an invaluable asset, containing, as it does, an overview of the subject together with practical assistance and easy‐to‐find explanations and illustrations.

Priced at £149 plus VAT for the single‐user version, the cost of this resource will not endear it to the budget‐conscious purchaser. Instead, prospective users will do well to approach their nearest resource library in the hope that there, at least, they may gain access to this up‐to‐date and comprehensive product. Included on the CD are historical and background information, a global view of breastfeeding, an extensive study of the important nutritional facts and figures and the identification of breastfeeding problems. Practical help and skilled support are available in the video demonstrations which, together with the associated text, help to ensure this is a valuable educational tool. The matrix text search facility is equally useful, enabling the user to quickly navigate the contents of the CD for all text and illustrations relating to a chosen topic.

The need for help for breastfeeding mothers is clear from the latest national statistics which point out that 15 per cent of the women who start breastfeeding stop within the first week. This despite the fact that the input from midwives is at its highest during this time. The Health of the Nation (DoH, 1991) set goals of 75 per cent of new mothers initiating breastfeeding and 50 per cent of babies being wholly or partially breastfed at six weeks. However, in 1995, 66 per cent of women started breastfeeding but after six weeks, only 43 per cent were continuing in what is universally recognised as the preferred method of infant feeding.

Breastfeeding education in schools is minimal. Child Care and Development which is still taught in some secondary schools, and Biology and Human Biology A levels are the only areas of the curriculum in which the subject can be expected to be covered. However, a teacher of any age group who is enthusiastic about or committed to breastfeeding may wish to introduce it as part of personal, social and health education.

Ironically, breastfeeding rates are lowest among those women who left school at 16 and increase with higher levels of education. There is a strong case to be heard for important child health issues like breastfeeding to find a more prominent place in mainstream education. However, until such a time, workers in the health services who see the consequences of babies not being breastfed (higher incidence of juvenile onset diabetes, more cases of otitis media and other infections, increased incidence of hospital admission in infancy, etc.) will rest their hopes on the ability of midwives, health visitors and voluntary experts from important lay organisations to be able to offer the sort of help which this CD‐ROM facilitates. Either that, or cross their fingers that at least one of the Spice Girls chooses to breastfeed and then not only succeeds but tells the young female population at large about why she Wanna Be a Breastfeeder!