Tuesday, 10 January 2012
Commenting on the Medical Research Council study on breastfeeding and links to baby behaviour, published today, Dr Janine Stockdale a Research Fellow at the Royal College of Midwives, said: “There is a growing mountain of evidence about the many benefits of breastfeeding for mother and baby. This is a small study and more research is needed.
“It cannot be presumed that physical signalling by the baby automatically means it is hungry; other evidence suggests that babies engage in sucking behaviour called non-nutritive sucking. As breastfeeding mothers are often advised not to use a soother while their baby is learning to breastfeed, this means there is a need to look at babies’ behaviours, taking into consideration whether or not a soother was introduced. Factoring this type of information into the research would enable us to understand more about the suggested differences between the behaviours of breastfed and bottle fed babies.
“The evidence needs to be seen in a greater context before we start to draw conclusions on this research and we should continue to do all we can to promote and increase the rates of breastfeeding.”
For more information contact the RCM Press Office on 020 7312 3456, pressofficer@rcm.org.uk.
Notes to editors
The Royal College of Midwives is the voice of midwifery. We are the UK’s only trade union and professional organisation led by midwives for midwives. The vast majority of the midwifery profession are our members. The RCM promotes midwifery, quality maternity services and professional standards. We support and represent our members individually and collectively in all four UK countries. We influence on behalf of our members and for the interests of the women and families for which they care. For more information visit the RCM website at www.rcm.org.uk.
