Friendly feeding line moves into Shelburne County

A unique program that was piloted in Yarmouth and expanded into Shelburne County has turned the heads of experts from all over the province and some of the country towards the South Shore for advice.

The program that pairs by phone new breastfeeding moms with experienced breastfeeding moms, Friendly Feeding Lines, has driven up the success rate for new moms attempting to breastfeed their babies.

“It has been tremendously successful,” explained Barbara Johnson, Communications Director for South West Health. “When we surveyed to determine part of the evaluation what we saw was 84 percent of moms going through the program were breastfeeding solely breast milk to their babies at three months whereas the percentage provincially is 68.”

In response to the success of the Friendly Feeding Line, the province through health promotion created a manual based on both Counties’ experiences so that others could duplicate the program easily.

An extensive evaluation was given on the Yarmouth pilot to determine how successful it was and how much of a difference was made through the program.

“What we do is train experienced breastfeeding moms to support inexperienced moms and the outcome has been tremendous,” said Johnson.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends breastfeeding as the ideal way of providing young infants with the nutrients they need for healthy growth and development.

Studies made by WHO and INFACT Canada has researched those infants who are not breastfed but artificially fed with infant formula experience increased risks of a wide range of both infectious and chronic illnesses.

After population studies were conducted it was determined that breastfed children experience a reduced risk of asthma, infectious disease, cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes and an increased level of cognitive ability.

To some mothers breastfeeding does not come as naturally as expected and the Friendly Feeding Line offers support on a peer-to-peer level.

“It’s nice to have a local success story,” stated Johnson regarding the program.