WE WANT COMPASSION
- Ensure antenatal education reflects the full range of families’ experiences and encourages parents to approach infant feeding with self-kindness.
- Make the mental and physical health of all family members a key consideration when providing infant feeding support and information.
- Show respect for all families by having positive representations of all safe feeding methods on public display and offer inclusive and comprehensive support for all families.
WE WANT AUTONOMY
- Empower us to make our own informed decisions by giving a balanced perspective on the health effects of different feeding options. This should use the full range of high-quality scientific evidence and acknowledge uncertainties in the field. We want to see accurate statistics and clear representations about the benefits and risks of each feeding method.
- Give us information about what options are available to help address feeding problems, along with the strength of the evidence behind them. We can then decide whether to accept help, continue with the current feeding method or change course.
- Recognise the ways in which infant feeding decisions interplay with other aspects of family life, such as sharing parenting responsibilities, work, sleep and looking after older children. Our right to make decisions according to our own needs and values must be respected.
WE WANT SAFETY
- Make it the priority to prevent newborn babies suffering unnecessarily from low blood sugar, jaundice, dehydration, excessive weight loss, faltering growth and other feeding complications.
- Ensure that information about sterilising equipment and milk preparation and storage is easily available to parents and included in antenatal education.
- Recognise the risks of maternal sleep deprivation for a woman’s mental health, as well as for the safety of her children. Adequate maternal sleep should be a key consideration in all infant feeding support.