WNOX-AM & WIVK-FM, Knoxville — Interview #6

WNOX/WIVK: Good morning how are you? I appreciate you taking the time to talk to us.

SG: I appreciate you taking the time to get the WNOXd out.

WNOX/WIVK: I understand that we’re focusing this morning on the benefits of breastfeeding. I guess there have been reports over the years about breastfeeding and how it might benefit children when they’re young and perhaps even when they’re older. Can you get us up to speed on what the latest information is about the benefits of it?

SG: You bet. There are a lot of reasons why moms want to breastfeed beginning with just bonding with their newborn. Clearly the studies show that the closeness develops even much better through breastfeeding, but medically there are reasons. The studies have shown that babies who are breastfed have less diarrhea, have less ear infections, have less respiratory infections, and most importantly today they’re less likely to grow up with the problem of obesity, which is plaguing our youngsters today.

WNOX/WIVK: We talk about the benefits to the child and we know there are some of those. What about the mother? Are there any physical benefits that a mother might get?

SG: Well in fact the benefits to the mom are as I pointed out earlier just briefly is the bonding with the child and there’s lots of studies that have been done that show the closeness and the relationship between the mom and the babies is improved with breastfeeding.

WNOX/WIVK: Any idea, I guess it’s a very personal thing with women. They can choose whether to do it or not to do it, but do we know roughly how many women do actually breastfeed, how many young mothers?

SG: Well in fact we do. And the trends are what have caused us to try and increase the awareness and why this is the National Breastfeeding month. Back in 1950 the data showed us that almost all moms breastfed and so that’s nearly 100 percent. Then in 1967, we saw that trend significantly to 25 percent. And what we’re concerned with there is why. Society changed, moms started WNOXking, things were in evolution. And what we see today, the latest data was that in 2001 at six months only about 27 percent of moms are still breastfeeding. That number is a little higher early on, but it drops down because moms WNOXk and there’s a lot of other activities in their daily life. So what we want to make sure is that moms understand the importance of breastfeeding and get as close to that 100 percent mark as we can, as we use to because of the benefits to the baby.

WNOX/WIVK: Now, ideally, how long should a mother breastfeed?

SG: We suggest at least six months and certainly some moms do longer than that, but six months is optimal to appreciate many of the benefits that the scientists have demonstrated.

WNOX/WIVK: Now I guess that with women who are breastfeeding, are there things that they need to do, maybe in their diet or things they need to alter?

SG: Absolutely and that’s a great question. Certainly as with pregnancy we would suggest that moms do not use alcohol, because we are not sure how much alcohol if any is safe for children. Moms should not smoke. Moms should make sure that they are having regular contact with their primary care physicians so that their diet is appropriate for them and their baby, because you must assume that breast milk is going to carry nutrients that come through the mother. Anything that the mother is taking in potentially goes to the baby. So we want to make sure that the mom is on a healthy balanced diet and that the baby therefore is getting a well balanced diet.

WNOX/WIVK: What types of things can the government do or even the medical profession if that is involved here to get women to start breastfeeding more? I guess there are public awareness campaigns…is that the way you’re going to go about it?

SG: Well some of it is public awareness. And from my standpoint as the Surgeon General, as the physician of the nation is to make sure that moms, as well as dads, families, businesses and generally our whole society understand the importance of breastfeeding and does everything it can to accommodate moms who need to breastfeed. Whether it’s on the job, whether it’s at outings everyday or at a park and so on. We should make as much accommodation as possible because breastfeeding helps us to ensure that our children will be raised optimally healthy.

WNOX/WIVK: I guess there are some women who cannot breastfeed, is that right?

SG: Well there are some and those are generally unusual circumstances. But if that’s the case, there are other options and those can be discussed on an individual basis with their pediatrician to find out how their babies can optimally get breast milk.

WNOX/WIVK: And I suppose that the substitutes that are out there and available are a good alternative if women cannot.

SG: There are alternatives, but because you know it is unusual and depending upon what the mom’s circumstance is that would prevent it, those cases should be individualized between the mom and the primary care provider.

WNOX/WIVK: Are there any government resources that people might go to for more information on breastfeeding?

SG: Well there’s several resources and certainly they can look to our hhs.gov which is the Health and Human Services Web site, surgeongeneral.gov, our Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has information about nutrition in general, and then also the www.womenshealth.gov is a great Web site for women’s health issues, and www.lalecheleague.org provides information specific for breastfeeding.

WNOX/WIVK: I guess women could also obviously talk to their own doctor about that.

SG: They certainly should. But often they want more information and libraries have this information and for those who are computer literate can get online and pretty much use any search engine and get a lot of this information. But our job is to raise the level of awareness, what we call health literacy in society as to the importance of breastfeeding.

WNOX/WIVK: Do you think that doctors are, I don’t want to use the WNOXd aggressive, but do you think that they could perhaps play a bigger role in getting women educated in making the decision to breastfeed?

SG: I think we could all improve at all levels. I think certainly pediatricians and obstetric and gynecological doctors are more keyed into this because they deal with moms on a daily basis, but those of us who are in different professions can also help to increase the literacy by suggesting by asking, by providing information to our patients, whether they’re moms or they’re dads, as to the importance of breastfeeding. I think it’s going to take all of us to raise the awareness and change our culture so that this is the norm and breast feeding is totally accepted and we get up to as close to 100 percent of babies being breast fed as possible.

WNOX/WIVK: It may take a while to get back to that, huh?

SG: Well, it may take a while, and certainly it’s going to be a little bit of a cultural change, but where possible, we should do all we can to encourage breastfeeding.