Visiting American breastfeeding expert, Kay Hoover says overweight women have more difficulty breastfeeding and with the rising incidence of obesity in Australia this could have a significant impact on the health of babies born to overweight women.
Ms Hoover is touring Australia this week, presenting at the Australian Breastfeeding Association’s Breastfeeding: A Work of Heart seminar series. The seminars have attracted hundreds of health professionals in Sydney, Perth and Adelaide and will also be web cast for the first time to dozens of workers in remote areas.
Ms Hoover, the lactation consultant for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health in the USA and co-author of The Breastfeeding Atlas says American research shows women who are obese tend to raise children who become overweight. Babies who are weaned from breastmilk too early are also at greater risk of obesity and other related health conditions.
“‘Lactation consultants, midwives and other health professionals need to understand how they can help overweight women breastfeed their babies,” Ms Hoover said.
“There are many effects on breastfeeding from a mother being overweight, including an increase in known risk factors such as diabetes and hypertension, lower initiation and duration rates and a higher likelihood of introducing infant formula supplements.”
Ms Hoover says, “Overweight women can face challenges with things such as choosing a maternity bra, positioning and attaching their babies, breastfeeding in public and expressing breastmilk.”
Kay Hoover appears in Sydney on April 2, Adelaide on April 3 and Perth on April 5.
