Breastfeeding for Public Health

<p>Health visitors play a crucial role in supporting mothers who choose to breastfeed and their families. This accessible text enables readers to practise confidently in this vital area focusing on underpinning knowledge and parent-centred counselling skills and understanding cultural contexts. </p><p>Breastfeeding a child improves the lifelong health of a population and promoting breastfeeding is an important area of public health practice. <i>Breastfeeding for Public Health</i> incorporates the voices of health visitors mothers and fathers to give insight into common practical challenges faced and suggestions for overcoming or working around them. Presenting up-to-date research it explores the practical skills needed by health visitors to support mothers with breastfeeding; how to develop the communication skills and self-awareness necessary to build successful and trusting relationships with women and their families; why breastfeeding is so important for babies' and mothers' health and psychological attachment closeness and long-term mental health; what we know about the content of breastmilk and the positive effect it has on the baby’s gut microbiome which in turn benefits the infant’s long-term health and helps to protect against non-communicable diseases; the role of the father and grandparents in successfully initiating and sustaining breastfeeding; and how cultural awareness and sensitivity can influence practice for the better. </p><p>Written by an experienced volunteer and practitioner with decades of experience as a health visitor and breastfeeding counsellor this text is ideal for students taking Specialist Community and Public Health Nursing courses. It is also an important reference for practising health visitors.</p>