XL08: Breastfeeding: Choice of Duty or Duty of Care?

Pamela MorrisonLecturer: Pamela Morrison
E-CERPs: 1.25
Cost: US$18.75
Access period: One week
Lecture recorded: at GOLD08
Synopsis: Is the baby's right to receive breastmilk or be breastfed more important or legitimate than the mother's right to choose whether or not she breastfeeds her baby?
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Lecture Details: Almost all mothers are physically capable of breastfeeding their babies and research continues to document compromised health outcomes for babies who are not breastfed. Yet practitioners continue to be hampered by the perceived right, acknowledged by all sectors of society, of a mother to choose how she will feed her baby. The responsibility to assist those mothers who do not wish to breastfeed towards achievement of their own goals creates an as-yet unresolved ethical dilemma to fulfil the mutually exclusive needs of two parties. Pivotal to the ability of Lactation Consultants and others fulfil their duty of care to both mother and baby is a re-appraisal of the current interpretation of the baby's right to be breastfed. This session explores some of the factors influencing infant feeding choice. The physiological, historical, cultural and political anomalies surrounding infants' right to their mothers' milk are examined. The ways whereby irrational feeding decisions are framed in order to maintain the status quo are identified. Distinctions between maternal capacity and choice are made. An ethical framework is proposed to identify the rights of mothers and their infants, and the corresponding obligations of families, society, health workers and governments to ensure that they are realized.

About the lecturer: A former La Leche League Leader, and the first IBCLC in Zimbabwe, Pamela Morrison has worked with breastfeeding mothers and babies for over two decades. Pamela has written and presented on the ethical dilemmas surrounding infant feeding choice, including the rationalization of formula-feeding for HIV-positive mothers. She held the role of Co-coordinator of the WABA Task Force for Children’s Nutrition Rights, and until recently was the Co-coordinator of the WABA Task Force on Breastfeeding and HIV. She also served on the Zimbabwe National Multi-sectoral Breastfeeding Committee, the BFHI Task Force, assisted with development of national Code legislation and HIV policy and served on the ILCA Code Committee.