Infant-feeding headlines RCM think tank

The RCM played host to a multi-stakeholder forum on infant-feeding today.

Maternal and infant nutrition and the role of the midwife in improving this topped the agenda.

The RCM’s Gail Johnson and chair for the day said: ‘This is a day to explore the challenges of infant-feeding.

‘We are not here to thrash out the benefits of breastfeeding, but to go some way to answering the question around what the RCM can do to raise the important issues around infant-feeding,’ she said.

Representatives from the Department of Health and the Scottish government joined forces with City University’s Dr Helen Crawley, Professor Mary Renfrew, Baby Milk Action’s Patti Rundall, senior clinical research fellow and GP Pat Hoddinett and Sue Ashmore from the Unicef Baby Friendly Initiative to provide ten-minute debate triggers.

‘Formula milk is a marker of inequalities and breastfeeding is the solution’, said Professor Renfrew in her presentation on why infant-feeding is a contentious topic.

Dr Crawley’s focus lay with the need to monitor the composition of all formula milks available in the UK. She said: ‘No one knows the ingredients of infant milk, except the companies who manufacture them and they won’t tell us because they don’t have to.’

Dr Crawley asked the attendees at The British Library who was going to take up the challenge to find out.

A report on the day’s discussions will be available by the beginning of October.