DOH to hospitals: Follow WHO recommendations on breastfeeding

MANILA, Philippines –  The Department of Health (DOH) has urged healthcare facilities to follow the “10 steps to successful breastfeeding” recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef).

In a statement, the DOH said it is important to breastfeed newborns “within the first hours of life” because they could get the mother’s colostrums, thus giving them a head start in the race against malnutrition.

The DOH said healthcare facilities providing services to pregnant mothers, new mothers and newborns should observe the 10 steps designed to ensure that infants are fed adequately with mother’s milk.

These include having a written breastfeeding policy that is communicated routinely to all health care staff; training all health care staff in the skills necessary to implement the policy; informing all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding; helping mothers initiate breastfeeding within the first 30 minutes of life; showing mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation even if separated from their infants; giving newborn infants no food or drink other than human milk unless medically-indicated; practicing rooming-in or allowing mothers and infants to stay together 24 hours a day; encouraging breastfeeding on demand; giving no artificial teats or pacifiers; fostering the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and referring mothers on discharge from hospital or clinic.

Last week, the DOH had commended St. Luke’s Medical Center for being among the first private hospitals to respond to the agency’s call to implement the 10 steps.

Worldwide, it is estimated that some 28 percent of maternity facilities have already adopted the strategies and it was proven to have contributed to the increase in breastfeeding rates despite the aggressive commercial promotion of infant formula and baby bottles.

Earlier, the Unicef and the WHO expressed concerns over the low and stagnant breastfeeding rates in the Philippines. Unicef country representative Vanessa Tobin had estimated that only 34 percent of Filipino mothers exclusively breastfeed their babies for the first six months of life. In 2003, the rate was pegged at 37 percent.

“Parents and consumers can be assured that the products distributed by Abbott Nutrition in the Philippines are unaffected by the recall, and are of the same high quality and integrity as the products they know and trust,” said Abbott Nutrition-Philippines general manager Thomas Karalis.

Reports showed that Abbott had initiated a voluntary pullout of its infant product Similac for bug contamination. But unlike salmonella contamination, infants who have taken the milk face no immediate health risks.

Abbott claimed in a statement that the situation was limited to one production area in a single manufacturing facility in the United States.

“No products distributed by Abbott Nutrition in the Philippines are affected by this recall,” the company said.

Consumers or health care professionals who have questions regarding this matter may call Abbott customer service at (02) 995 1555.

Legal options

Meantime, Mead Johnson Nutrition Philippines is studying its legal options over conflicting orders regarding the recall of their milk products due to failure to comply with the standard fat level content per 100 calories.

The DOH and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday revoked an earlier order against two milk products of Mead Johnson Nutrition Philippines –Alactagrow and Sustagen Junior, saying they are still fit for consumption.

“All options are possible but at this point in time we are trying to manage the losses brought about by the recall order,” Janryll Fernandez, corporate affairs manager, told reporters during the weekly Kapihan sa Sulo news forum in Quezon City.

He, however, declined to elaborate on what legal option the company may take as a result of the conflicting orders.

He said their company was in the process of reformulating Alactagrow and Sustagen Junior in compliance with the Codex (Code of Hygienic Practices for Food for Infants and Children) when a stern recall order was issued last Sept. 16.

The order said “continuous distribution of the said products present gross deception to the consuming public and may even present risk of illness or injury to children.”

“We were surprised when the recall order was issued,” Fernandez said.

He also insisted that there was no mislabeling of their products, particularly on the fat content.   – With Perseus Echeminada