OPHA and its partners advocate for public health policies that give Ontario's children a healthy start.

Breastfeeding Promotion

OPHA’s Breastfeeding Promotion Workgroup, formed in 1993, recognizes the need to develop a province-wide strategy to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding as a means of improving health of children and their mothers.

Extensive research emphasizes the crucial role of breastfeeding in achieving optimal health outcomes. Since breast feeding initiation, duration and exclusivity rates continue to be lower than recommended, the advocacy efforts must continue.

Objectives

  • To enable health professionals to contribute to the protection, promotion and support of breast feeding through inclusion of consistent accurate breastfeeding information and resources in undergraduate program curricula.
  • To enhance the breastfeeding knowledge and skills of health professionals by collaboratively developing and implementing strategies for sharing evidence, best practice recommendations and resources.
  • To partner with other organizations to advocate for a comprehensive breastfeeding strategy for Ontario.
  • To facilitate the inclusion of appropriate breastfeeding information and resources in the elementary and high-school curricula.

The OPHA Breastfeeding Promotion Workgroup in Action…

Revisions to the document, Creating a Breastfeeding Friendly Workplace, were completed in 2008. Links to the Ontario Human Rights Commission and to the document, "How to Be a Family Friendly Workplace", are included in this resource.

The workgroup’s Breastfeeding Position Paper (revised 2007) reflects current evidence-informed breastfeeding recommendations. The paper emphasizes the importance of upholding the principles of the Baby-Friendly Initiative which includes investing upstream, basing decisions on evidence and acting on the determinants of health as they relate to breastfeeding.

A position paper, Informed Decision Making and Infant Feeding, was developed and presented at OPHA’s 2007 Annual General Meeting. It highlights the importance of the need to include risks associated with artificial baby milk (ABM) when providing information about infant feeding.

A position paper presented to the OPHA Board in 2004, Balancing and Communicating Issues Related to Environmental Contaminants in Breastmilk, advocates that, while research has shown that a woman's breastmilk may contain contaminants, women should in most cases continue to breastfeed, as in the vast majority of cases the benefits of breastfeeding outweigh the associated risks.

The Workgroup continues to write advocacy letters supporting and promoting breastfeeding in Ontario.

Big Wins and Impacts

The Breastfeeding Curriculum for Undergraduate Health Professionals was distributed in 2009 to postsecondary institutions to contribute to the consistency and accuracy of breast feeding information and training. The document provides learning modules which have information and resources to plan curriculum for undergraduate health care professionals.

A Breastfeeding Information and Activity Kit (also available in French) was developed and distributed in 2009 and is a resource for secondary school teachers to use as they create lesson plans which include promotion of breastfeeding. It would also be helpful for prenatal teachers. This will contribute to the creation of a culture where breastfeeding is the norm for infant and young child feeding.

Ontario’s Public Health Standards now reflect the global recommendation of exclusive breastfeeding to six months, with the addition of nutrient-rich complementary foods thereafter and continued breastfeeding up to two years and beyond…

Informed decision-making regarding infant feeding is being recognized as a major contributing factor in achievement of optimal child health outcomes.