‘Teach primary schools kids about breastfeeding’
Children are completely unfamiliar with the concept of breastfeeding, which Flanders’ leading expert in the field would like to see change
Bottle-bred
The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) official recommendation is to feed babies only mothers’ milk for the first six months. Figures provided by Flemish family agency Kind en Gezin, however, show that half of babies in Flanders are either partly or completely fed with a bottle after only six weeks.
“If you ask young children how babies are fed, they mostly answer that it is done with a bottle,” said Debonnet. “They seem to be unaware that breastfeeding exists, even though it is completely normal.”
Debonnet co-ordinates the WHO’s Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative in Belgium, which works through the federal governments’ public health department to promote breastfeeding in hospitals. She would now like to see children in primary school taught about breastfeeding.
The lessons would not serve to explain in detail how breastfeeding works, she explained, but to familiarise children with the concept and inform them of the advantages. “That’s a message they will carry with them for a long time,” she said.
A few years ago, Debonnet organised workshops in schools, with amongst others a mother who breastfed. The children could also practice themselves with tools in bras. “There were no negative reactions of schools or parents then,” she stated.
Photo: Anton Nossik/Wikimedia
