Canada Breastfeeds News

Mission communautaire du Centre de santé et des services sociaux La Pommeraie is the second  community health service in Québec (and in Canada) to receive the Baby-Friendly designation. A three-person assessment team led by Ginette Bélanger undertook the external assessment in late September. The CLSC is headquartered in Cowansville QC which is the location of Canada’s first Baby-Friendly Hospital, Brome-Missisquoi-Perkins Hospital, originally designated in 1999 and  successfully re-designated in 2004. Following a conference call meeting with the members of the assessment team and representatives of the CQA (Quebec Breastfeeding Committee), Breastfeeding Committee for Canada Senior Chair Susan James reported as follows: "The report was glowing — it is a great example of how having a hospital and community both working on baby friendly makes a huge difference in the breastfeeding culture!"

While Canadians are all too familiar with stories of breastfeeding mothers being discriminated against, it is not often that people who simply promote the practice suffer for it. But such was the case this past October, when the editor of New Brunswick weekly magazine Here was fired for putting a picture of a breastfeeding infant on the cover of an issue during World Breastfeeding Week. The magazine was recalled from stores by its owners, Brunswick News, and Miriam  Christensen was told she wouldn’t be working for them anymore. The cover was replaced by a cartoon drawing of a woman holding a baby in a blanket.

Unfortunately, since the publishing of the last INFACT Canada newsletter, two hospitals in Ontario have terminated important breastfeeding support programs. Blue Water Health in Sarnia has closed its hospital and outpatient breastfeeding support services for mothers and babies, and North York General Hospital, one of the biggest health facilities in the province, has decided to shut down its renowned breastfeeding clinic. The closure of the NYGH clinic, which is run by breastfeeding expert Dr. Jack Newman, is especially distressing for a number of reasons. Firstly, the clinic not only supports dozens of mothers and infants every week, but hosts observers such as medical students, doctors, and lactation consultants and in this way has spread healthy breastfeeding practices throughout the medical community. Secondly, the closure of such a well-established and respected clinic has led to rumours that similar facilities in the province will soon be shut down as well. Predictably, both hospitals blame a lack of resources and not a disregard for the benefits of breastfeeding for the closures. Unfortunately, cutting support for breastfeeding will ultimately be more costly for the health care system than maintaining it, as it is widely documented that breastfeeding lowers rates of serious diseases such as cancer and obesity in later life.