ABM Gold Member Profile: Touraj Shafai, MD, PhD, FAAP, FABM

ABM: Why did you become a member of ABM?

Touraj Shafai, MD, PhD, FAAP, FABM Medical Director, Inland Empire Children’s Medical Group and BF Clinic

Shafai: To improve my knowledge about benefits of breastfeeding to both mother and baby and to society.

ABM: What is ABM‘s greatest strength?

Shafai: As an organization ABM has the greatest collection of knowledge than any other organization.

ABM: What inspires you to promote, protect and support breastfeeding?

Shafai:  To educate moms regarding the benefits of breastfeeding so our newborns can achieve their fullest potential.

ABM: What advice can you offer to physicians who are interested in learning more about breastfeeding?

Shafai: To become a member of the ABM and attend the Annual Meetings of the Academy.

ABM: What accomplishment are you most proud of in your career?

Shafai: To receive a PhD in biochemistry following my MD degree which provided me with critical thinking and gave me the tools in research and improving patient care.

ABM: What is a current challenge for you in your work?

Shafai: To get rid of some of the hospital policies such as the old hypoglycemia and jaundice policies that are obstacles to breastfeeding.

ABM: What can ABM offer physicians worldwide?

Shafai: Many pediatric residents and medical students express a desire to learn more about breastfeeding. Unfortunately this is not available in their training programs. We should be able to fill this gap and provide them with the information that they need.

Thank you, Dr. Shafai.  We look forward to featuring additional Lifetime and Gold Members on the ABM Blog each month.

Join us at the 19th Annual International Meeting to be held November 13-16, 2014 in Cleveland, OH, USA.

ABM Gold Member Profile: Anne M. Montgomery, MD, FABM

Anne Montgomery, MD, FABM
Associate Director
Family Medicine Residency
Eisenhower Medical Center

ABM: Why did you become a member of ABM?

Montgomery: I was very involved in breastfeeding support and wanted to be part of a group of similar physicians.

ABM: What is ABM‘s greatest strength?

Montgomery: The diversity and expertise of our members.

ABM: What inspires you to promote, protect and support breastfeeding?

Montgomery:  Like many people, I was a “mainstream breastfeeding supporter” til I had my son; breastfeeding him exclusively for 5.5 months then continuing for 4.5 years “radicalized” me. I recognized that not not everyone had the tenacity/stubbornness to overcome all the barriers. As a physician to mothers and babies, it was part of my responsibility to be sure that all babies had the opportunity to be breastfed and that all mothers were supported in their feeding choices.

ABM: What advice can you offer to physicians who are interested in learning more about breastfeeding?

Montgomery: Join ABM! Don’t be afraid to attend courses aimed at nurses and lactation consultants if that is all that is available in your area.

ABM: What accomplishment are you most proud of in your career?

Montgomery: I achieved full professor academic rank in my late 40’s and have taught many residents and students about family medicine including breastfeeding.

ABM: What is a current challenge for you in your work?

Montgomery: Starting a new job soon, I don’t know what to expect yet! A brand new family medicine residency program should be interesting.

ABM: What can ABM offer physicians worldwide?

Montgomery: A chance to network with other like-minded physicians, good breastfeeding education, and support for their work assisting mothers and babies.

Thank you, Dr. Montgomery.  We look forward to featuring additional Lifetime and Gold Members on the ABM Blog each month.

Join us at the 18th Annual International Meeting to be held November 21-24, 2013 in Philadelphia.

ABM Gold Member Profile: Lori Feldman-Winter, MD, MPH, FABM

Lori Feldman-Winter, MD, MPH, FABM
Professor of Pediatrics
Children’s Regional Hospital at Cooper, Cooper Medical School of Rowan University

ABM: Why did you become a member of ABM?

Feldman-Winter: I wanted opportunities to network with colleagues that had a shared interest and learn from others work.

ABM: What is ABM‘s greatest strength?

Feldman-Winter: The members are definitely what makes this organization special. Each member makes their own unique contributions and we all learn from each other.

ABM: What inspires you to promote, protect and support breastfeeding?

Feldman-Winter:  For too many years breastfeeding fell outside the realm of mainstream medicine and physicians were unprepared to support mothers decisions to breastfeed. Through organizations such as ABM physicians are much more knowledgeable and skillful in their support, but we still have a long way to go!

ABM: What advice can you offer to physicians who are interested in learning more about breastfeeding?

Feldman-Winter: First take courses, especially those geared for physicians such as the WEPNTKAB course. Then join organizations such as the ABM to gain a better understanding of the field from the physicians’ perspective. Then get involved, there are so many opportunities to make a real difference.

ABM: What accomplishment are you most proud of in your career?

Feldman-Winter: I have dedicated a large part of my career in breastfeeding medicine to physician education. Being part of the inaugural group of FABM’s is one of the highlights of my career.

ABM: What is a current challenge for you in your work?

Feldman-Winter: In my current work as a consultant to NICHQ Best Fed Beginnings Project, my biggest challenge is to convince physicians all over the country that they need to make changes, including getting the required education, to help their hospitals achieve Baby-Friendly designation. The resistance to change is sometimes overwhelming. Somehow we need to convince all physicians to acknowledge that we all have much to learn about breastfeeding, and that it is a vital component of healthcare.

ABM: What can ABM offer physicians worldwide?

Feldman-Winter: The clinical protocols are helpful to set a global agenda for optimal evidence based care.

Thank you, Dr. Feldman-Winter.  We look forward to featuring additional Lifetime and Gold Members on the ABM Blog each week.

Join us at the 18th Annual International Meeting to be held November 21-24, 2013 in Philadelphia.

ABM Lifetime Member Profile: Nancy E. Wight, MD, IBCLC, FABM, FAAP

Nancy E. Wight, MD, IBCLC, FABM, FAAP, San Diego Neonatology, Inc. Medical Director, Sharp HealthCare Lactation Services

ABM: Why did you become a member of ABM?

Wight: I was inspired by the quality and vision of the founding members and wanted to be a part of the journey.

ABM: What is ABM‘s greatest strength?

Wight: It’s members and all they do in so many arenas (clinical care, research, teaching, mentoring, health planning, etc. etc.)!

ABM: What inspires you to promote, protect and support breastfeeding?

Wight:  As a physician, I care about the health of my community in all its forms and breastfeeding is the best health insurance.

ABM: What advice can you offer to physicians who are interested in learning more about breastfeeding?

Wight: Join ABM, join ILCA, join your local breastfeeding coalition. Find a breastfeeding ‘champion’ in your area to act as a mentor for you.

ABM: What accomplishment are you most proud of in your career?

Wight: I am most proud of the fact that as a clinician and educator I have influenced others to follow in my footsteps and EXCEED my accomplishments.

ABM: What is a current challenge for you in your work?

Wight: Keeping up with the incredible increase in human lactation research and literature over the last 10 years while working full-time (including nights!) as an ‘elder’ clinical neonatologist.

ABM: What can ABM offer physicians worldwide?

Wight: A vast wealth of peer knowledge and support.

Thank you, Dr. Wight.  We look forward to featuring additional Lifetime and Gold Members on the ABM Blog each week.

Join us at the 18th Annual International Meeting to be held November 21-24, 2013 in Philadelphia.

President’s Corner – Breastfeeding Mitigates a Disaster

BREASTFEEDING MEDICINE
Volume 8, Number 3, 2013
ª Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
DOI: 10.1089/bfm.2013.9989

PRESIDENT’S CORNER

Arthur I. Eidelman
Holocaust Memorial Day, or as it is called in Israel and worldwide ‘‘Yom Hashoah,’’ is a combination of the most depressing sadness, as we memorialize the 6,000,000 murdered victims of Nazi Germany and their European collaborators, and, paradoxically, a celebration of those individuals who somehow survived the horrors of mass murder and ethnic cleansing. The realization that 1.5 million infants and children were singled out for elimination by the Nazis so as to prevent the chances of a historical continuity of the European Jewish community is somehow counterbalanced by the miraculous stories of infants surviving, especially in the most unlikely circumstances and conditions.

This past Yom Hashoah (April 8, 2013) I had the opportunity to view a documentary entitled ‘‘Geboren in KZ’’ (‘‘Born in a Concentration Camp,’’ a film by Eva Gruberova and Martina Gawaz for GDR Television), which recounts the unbelievable story of seven infants who were born in 1945 in the Dachau, Germany, concentration camp. The fact that the mothers of these infants were able to conceal their pregnancies and reach term without being detected in and of itself defies comprehension, for as we know the policy of the Nazis was to send any woman diagnosed as pregnant directly to the crematorium. Some of the women even escaped detection and ‘‘selection’’ for death by the infamous Dr. Josef Mengele in
Auschwitz before being transferred to Dachau. No less miraculous so was their ability to maintain a minimal degree of nutrition to sustain their pregnancy until term or near term. Months later, when Dachau was liberated by the U.S. Army, the GIs to their astonishment discovered among the 30,000 survivors of the camp seven mothers and their seven infants ranging in age from 1 to 6 months (three boys and four girls).
To their wonderment they found that the infants were relatively thriving with few if any discernible medical problems. The film documents visually the U.S. Army’s surprise and the images of the healthy infants. Almost in passing, when they asked how the babies survived the unbearable conditions in the concentration camp, the answer they received was simply that the infants were breastfed, with two of the mothers acting as wet nurses to supplement those mothers whose milk supply was marginal. Not only did all the infants survive, after liberation they grew normally, ultimately married, and raised their own families, truly a testimony to their fortune in defying their presumed proscribed fate and the Nazis’ nefarious plan for a final solution to the Jewish problem.

And yes, they were breastfed successfully and thus survived the most disastrous medical and nutritional condition imaginable. The infants’ survival once again provides evidence of what should be axiomatic for all those who have been charged with the responsibility for organizing our communities for potential disasters, what is termed ‘‘disaster preparedness response and recovery.’’ As clearly stated in the ABM Statement entitled ‘‘Position on Breastfeeding’’1: ‘‘In situations of disaster or food insecurity, infants who are not breastfed have a markedly higher risk of infant mortality and morbidity from infectious diseases.’’ This conclusion was confirmed in a recent published study2 that analyzed the effect
of breastmilk substitutes and the incidence of diarrhea in infants after the 2006 earthquake in Java. The authors concluded that ‘‘there were strong associations between receipt of breast milk substitutes and changes in feeding practices and between receipt of infant formula and diarrhea. Uncontrollable distribution of infant formula exacerbates the risk of diarrhea among infants and young children in emergencies.’’

It should be clear that the key word in this quote is ‘‘uncontrollable,’’ meaning the non-medically indicated distribution of formula frequently by well-meaning non-governmental organizations that are insufficiently sophisticated or versed to understand that their actions are counterproductive for infant health. No less so are the actions of the formula companies’ distribution policies, which reflect at time marketing opportunities rather than legitimate public health needs. Binns et al.3 emphasized this in their recent article entitled ‘‘Ethical Issues in Infant Feeding After Disasters,’’ which summarized the issues in two pithy sentences: ‘‘Mothers who are injured or short of food can still continue breastfeeding and don’t need formula’’ and ‘‘Where formula must be used, health workers need to follow the highest ethical standards to avoid promoting infant formula to vulnerable communities in the post recovery phase.’’

Gribble4 further highlighted and extended this concern regarding the inappropriate behavior of formula companies and public health officials to the frequent detrimental role of the media, particularly in its encouraging harmful aid in the form of infant formula and in reporting incorrectly that stress5 interferes with the success of breastfeeding. Gribble,4 in analyzing the consequences of the 2008 earthquake in China and the cyclones in Myanmar, described the successful activities of an interagency called the Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies (IYCF-E), which developed an ‘‘Operational Guidance for Emergency Relief Staff and Programme Managers.’’6 The Guidance functioned in part on the following principles that served as a basis for the actions of both the agencies and media communications:
1. ‘‘Babies fed anything other than breast milk are particularly vulnerable in emergencies.’’
2. ‘‘Use of infant formula or other milk products is dangerous in emergencies and should be avoided.’’
3. ‘‘The way to help babies survive in an emergency is to help their mothers continue breastfeeding.’’
4. ‘‘Donations of infant formula are not needed and are unhelpful.’’
5. ‘‘Aid organizations need help from media immediately after the start of the emergency to prevent arrival of
donations of infant formula.’’

Natural disasters are inevitable and part of the realities and vagaries of living on earth. Our role as caretakers is to prepare for them and not compound their consequences by disrupting the natural order of infant feeding (e.g., breastfeeding and the use of human milk). It is hoped that we will not need another round of evidence from manmade disasters such as the Holocaust of World War II to convince us that survival even in the most deprived circumstances is dependent on maintaining that maternal–infant dyadic breastfeeding nurturing relationship. Those infants who were born into the horrors of the Nazi camps and survived proved it, and that should be enough to convince the doubters. The lessons of the Holocaust are many, and we are charged to remember those who went through that hell and their message of hope for future generations.

References
1. Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine Board of Directors. Position on breastfeeding. Breastfeed Med 2008;3:267–270.
2. Hipgrave DB, Assefa F, Winoto A, et al. Donated breast milk substitutes and incidence of diarrhea among infants and young children after the May 2006 earthquake in Yogyakarta and Central Java. Public Health Nutr 2012;15:307–315.
3. Binns CW, Lee KK, Tang L, et al. Ethical issues in infant feeding after disasters. Asia Pac J Public Health 201;24:672–680.
4. Gribble KD. Media messages and the needs of infants and young children after Cyclone Nargis and the WenChuan earthquake. Disaster 2013;37:80–100.
5. Hill PD. Psychological distress and milk volume in lactating mothers. West J Nurs Res 2005;27:676–693.
6. IFE Core Group. Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies: Operational Guidance for Emergency Relief Staff and Programme Managers version 2.1 February 2007. http://www.ennonline.net/pool/files/ife/ops-guidance-2-1-english-010307-with-addendum.pdf (accessed April 11, 2013).
—Arthur I. Eidelman, MD, FABM, FAAP
President, Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine
PRESIDENT’S CORNER 345

BLACK MOTHERS’ BREASTFEEDING ASSOCIATION RECEIVES GRANT TO HELP ERADICATE RACIAL BREASTFEEDING DISPARITIES

PRESS RELEASE 6/10/2013 For Immediate Release Contact: Kiddada Green 800-313-6141 Black Mothers’ Breastfeeding Association DETROIT – Black Mothers’ Breastfeeding Association (BMBFA) has received a $400,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The funds will be used to strengthen organizational capacity by building management systems, expanding existing programs and developing new programs, leading to sustainable growth to improve the quality of life for vulnerable, poverty stricken children, while causing social change for the greater good. The funding period began on May 1, 2013 and ends on June 30, 2016.BMBFA’s community approach to breastfeeding support has been deemed innovative due to its explicit focus on narrowing the disparity gap that exists in breastfeeding rates.  In Michigan, only 50.9 percent of black children ever receive breast milk as compared to 68.5 percent of white children.  Strengthening BMBFA’s infrastructure will lead to long-term increases in breastfeeding rates and work to create a monumental social impact that restores the emotional, psychological and physical health of the Detroit community.”What a wonderful opportunity to service a very deserving community with culturally appropriate support for breastfeeding, leading to lifelong health and wellness,” says Kiddada Green, founding director of BMBFA.  Since 2007, BMBFA has strived to increase the number of black mothers who breastfeed and the amount of time spent doing so. BMBFA is the only organization of its kind in the state of Michigan. So what’s the big deal? Why is breast milk so important to African Americans? African Americans have the lowest breastfeeding rates in the U.S. Yet, they are hit hardest by health problems that breastfeeding protects against: diabetes, obesity, heart disease, asthma and allergies – just to name a few. Building the capacity of BMBFA will help to increase breastfeeding initiation and duration rates of African Americans. BMBFA’s expanding and new programs include: 1) Developing a replication model for Black Mothers’ Breastfeeding Club, a mother-to-mother support group that facilitates peer support, 2) Partnering with St. John Hospital to increase the number of black lactation consultants in Michigan through the Mother Nurture Lactation College, 3) Creating web-based seminars for professionals with an interest in maternal-child-health, focused on culturally competent breastfeeding support for mothers and babies. Overall this project will enhance BMBFA’s services to eliminate breastfeeding disparities for African American families in Detroit by strengthening organizational capacity. # # #   Black Mothers’ Breastfeeding Association (BMBFA) is a non-profit organization founded in 2007.  BMBFA’s mission is to increase awareness of the benefits of breastfeeding throughout the African American community. BMBFA will improve the quality of life and enhance self reliance by educating, providing valuable resources, offering on-going support, and joining forces with other organizations that share a similar interest. For more information, visit www.BMBFA.org.The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal pioneer, Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life.The Kellogg Foundation is based in Battle Creek, Mich., and works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special emphasis is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans; and internationally, are in Mexico and Haiti. For more information, visit www.wkkf.org.

Can Genetic Analysis of Breast Milk Help Identify Ways to Improve a Newborn’s Diet?

PRESS RELEASE FROM BREASTFEEDING MEDICINE Contact: Vicki Cohn Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers (914) 740-2100, ext. 2156 vcohn@liebertpub.com ShareThis

Can Genetic Analysis of Breast Milk Help Identify Ways to Improve a Newborn’s Diet? New Rochelle, NY, June 4, 2013—The composition of breast milk varies from mother to mother, and genetic factors may affect the levels of protective components in breast milk that could influence a newborn’s outcomes. The potential to perform genomic studies on breast milk samples is explored in a Review article in Breastfeeding Medicine, the Official Journal of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Breastfeeding Medicine website. Kelley Baumgartel and Yvette Conley, University of Pittsburgh, PA, reviewed the scientific literature to determine whether breast milk is an appropriate source for genetic material—DNA and RNA—to perform gene expression and epigenetic studies. In the article “The Utility of Breast Milk for Genetic or Genomic Studies: A Systematic Review,” the authors describe the potential value of the genetic information obtained from breast milk, which can be collected easily and noninvasively. It could lead to a better understanding of the variability in breast milk and to strategies for optimizing the neonatal diet through fortification of donor breast milk, supplementation of the mother’s diet, or maternal lifestyle changes that would affect breast milk composition. “The great majority of mothers produces milk that matches the needs of her infant amazingly well,” says Associate Editor David S. Newburg, PhD, Professor, Department of Biology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA. “But for those few infants with exceptional needs, such as premature infants, or for mothers with uncommon mutations whose milk lacks the full complement of beneficial components, genetic and genomic analysis would both identify the mismatch and provide the information to produce a personalized complementary fortifier or supplement.” About the Journal Breastfeeding Medicine, the Official Journal of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, is an authoritative, peer-reviewed journal published bimonthly in print and online. In 2014 the Journal will be publishing 10 issues per year. The Journal publishes original scientific papers, reviews, and case studies on a broad spectrum of topics in lactation medicine. It presents evidence-based research advances and explores the immediate and long-term outcomes of breastfeeding, including the epidemiologic, physiologic, and psychological benefits of breastfeeding. Tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Breastfeeding Medicine website. About the Publisher Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Journal of Women’s Health, Childhood Obesity, and Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN) was the first in its field and is today the industry’s most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm’s 70 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.

The President’s Corner

It Takes a Village and Beyond to Support Breastfeeding

To cite this article:
Arthur I. Eidelman. Breastfeeding Medicine. April 2013, 8(2): 243-244. doi:10.1089/bfm.2013.9993.

Published in Volume: 8 Issue 2: April 10, 2013

Arthur I. Eidelman

—Arthur I. Eidelman, MD, FABM, FAAP

President, Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine

If there is anything that is a measure of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine’s (ABM’s) relevance and importance, it is its series of Clinical Protocols in general and the publication in this issue of Breastfeeding Medicine of its latest protocol,¹ entitled “Breastfeeding-Friendly Physician’s Office,” in particular. To remind those who have forgotten and to inform those not in the know, these protocols have been formally accepted for distribution by the National Guideline Clearinghouse (www.guideline.gov) of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under its mandate to provide a “public resource for evidence based clinical practice guidelines.” No less a testimony to the quality of these protocols and their acceptance as a standard has been the pronouncement in the most recent Policy Statement on “Breastfeeding and the Use of Human Milk”² by the Section of Breastfeeding of the American Academy of Pediatrics that “evidence-based protocols from organizations such as the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine provide detailed clinical guidance for management of specific issues,” and thus there is no need for the American Academy of Pediatrics to duplicate clinical management protocols.

So what is so special regarding the latest ABM protocol, which on the surface seems to discuss a relatively mundane issue of creating a practice environment that is supportive of breastfeeding, but does not address a clinical issue that might help the physician in the management of a specific maternal–infant dyad? From my perspective it is just this focus that makes this a most important and, I would venture to say, almost revolutionary document.

For one, it acknowledges that from a public health point of view the major problem in our breastfeeding programs is not the breastfeeding initiation rate but rather the precipitous drop in the breastfeeding rates after discharge from the hospital, the all too short duration of any breastfeeding, let alone the rate of exclusively feeding human milk. (As a reminder, in the United States the averaged initiation rates are over 75%, whereas the “any” breastfeeding rate at 6 months is 44%, and the rate for exclusivity of breastfeeding is 33% at 3 months and only 14% at 6 months, with even lower rates for minority mothers, particularly those of color.)

The “success” of the initiation rates reflects hospital-based public health policies that are best exemplified by the incorporation of the World Health Organization/UNICEF 10 Steps into hospital routines, the Baby-Friendly Initiative, and the decision of the Joint Commission to include the exclusive breastfeeding rate as a Perinatal Core Measure in their assessment of hospital performance and quality. As such, it has become increasingly clear that it is just such successful public health population-based, system-oriented approaches that need to be formulated and standardized for the post-hospital period if we wish to extend the success on initiation beyond the immediate postpartum period into the critical months of early infancy and beyond.

Thus, the evidence-based recommendations that are detailed in this latest ABM protocol are not just welcome but are a major conceptual contribution that will, it is hoped, facilitate the refocusing our efforts and the direction for the investment of resources that will result in maximum public health benefit. As I have mentioned previously, we need to go beyond the management of the individual maternal–infant dyad and create supportive, culturally sensitive, total environments for the support of breastfeeding. That this environment must be “total” and not just a reflection of the individual caretaker’s knowledge or skills is emphasized by the detailed outline in the Protocol of what is necessary to truly become a Breastfeeding-Friendly office.

Most important is the need for the office environment to implement the World Health Organization’s International Code for Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes regarding use of noncommercial educational material and limiting the visibility of human milk substitutes so as to demonstrate breastfeeding support. In addition, the entire medical, nursing, technical, and administrative staff of the office need be properly trained in their appropriate roles so as to provide a uniform supportive environment. Furthermore, the physician and his or her team must link with other community-based programs while serving as a public advocate for breastfeeding. To paraphrase the well-used dictum “it takes a village to raise a child,”³ and, no less so, it has become increasingly clear that it takes more than the individual health practitioner working in a vacuum to succeed in increasing our breastfeeding rates.

No less important is the fact that this protocol truly reflects the international mission of the ABM. Not only do the recommendations avoid the trap of being too United States–centric, on the contrary, they reflect the reality of the varied healthcare systems and practices that exist worldwide, be it in the length of the postpartum stay in the hospital, the roles of the non-physician provider, patterns of financial compensation and insurance payments for breastfeeding support services, role of family physician versus pediatrician, etc. One need just peruse the reference list to note that this document¹ will truly serve the international audience of ABM.

Thus, the ABM Protocol Committee should be thanked and congratulated for producing this vitally needed document and refocusing our energies for the greater good.

References

1. Grawey AE, Marinelli KA, Holmes AV, Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine. ABM clinical protocol #14: Breastfeeding-friendly physician’s office: Optimizing care for infants and children, revised 2013. Breastfeed Med 2013;8:237–242.

2. Section on Breastfeeding. Breastfeeding and the use of human milk. Pediatrics 2012;129:e827–e841.

3. Lawrence RA. Breastfeeding: It takes a village. Breastfeed Med 2013;8:1–2.

How a Surgeon Ended up in ABM

Surgeons are often Type A personalities, the ones who sit in the front of the class, who volunteer for everything, who stay scrubbed in the OR all day with appendicitis and do a post-op check before checking themselves into the emergency department (yes, that was me.) As such, surgeons are often dismissive of the subspecialty of breast surgery. The surgeries are not as complex as cardiac bypass surgery or Whipple procedures for pancreatic cancer. In fact, it’s often a rotation for interns. I was a Type A personality. I had no plans to do breast surgery.

Then, a funny thing happened. I had my first son during residency. Planned with military precision, of course, to coincide with the beginning of my designated research years, as I had hoped to squeeze another baby in there somewhere. After his birth, I would breastfeed, because that is what Type A mothers do these days. It’s the best! Of course, I would do the best! However, like many mothers out there, we had an incredibly rocky start. Poor latch with inadequate weight gain. Triple feeding with pumped milk. Cracked nipples leading to mastitis. As a Type A person, I threw myself into research in an effort to solve the problems. Not just the many, many baby books out there, but Medline searches on breastfeeding management. I learned more than I ever had in my surgery textbooks about the breast, the physiology of lactation that is both incredibly simple and enormously complex, and most importantly, miraculous. I was reminded constantly in my reading of the importance of preserving this ability to breastfeed my son, for his and my health, and how challenging that could be.

ABM Member Profile: Featuring Caroline Chantry, MD, FABM

ABM: Why did you become a member of ABM?

Chantry: To attain more knowledge, skill and inspiration; to promote, protect and support breastfeeding, because surely it is an important cause.

ABM: What is ABM‘s greatest strength?

Chantry: Its membership which possesses vast expertise, experience and enthusiasm, and spans the globe.

ABM: What inspires you to promote, protect and support breastfeeding?

Chantry:  Breastfeeding has the potential, by far, to make the most impact on maternal and child health of any preventive intervention.  ABM helps me in many ways, e.g. with information and tools, but also by reinforcing the importance of what I do.  Sometimes at work I feel like an army of one, and ABM is full of reinforcements at the ready – I can call on them by phone, email or read the journal!

ABM: What advice can you offer to physicians who are interested in learning more about breastfeeding?

Chantry: ABM  conferences help, starting with “What Every Physician Needs To Know About Breastfeeding”; there are several online courses also.  You also need hands-on experience.  Find an expert to shadow and also just starting helps mothers and babies to get your own experience of what works. Every dyad is unique.

ABM: What accomplishment are you most proud of in your career?

Chantry: I am proud to have had the opportunity to serve ABM previously as President and for many years on the protocol committee. I am also proud of some of my research that ultimately I hope will help breastfeeding dyads.

ABM: What is a current challenge for you in your work?

Chantry: Still, in 2012, my hospital is resisting BFHI because they want the free formula!  Ethical blinders!

ABM: What can ABM offer physicians worldwide?

Chantry: The protocols are available for all physicians.  ABM‘s real treasure is the community of experts and advocates that are its membership.  It is small enough that you can actually get to know many of the members and access their expertise and share yours.

Thank you, Dr. Chantry.  We look forward to featuring additional Lifetime and Gold Members on the ABM Blog each month.

Join us at the 17th Annual International Meeting to be held October 11-14, 2012 in Chicago.