Teenage and adolescent mothers face a unique set of challenges when it comes to parenting, one such challenge being the decision to breast-feed their babies.
Experts, however, explain the importance of young mothers being successful in their breast-feeding journeys, a release issued on the National Institute for Children’s Health Quality (NICHQ) website said.
"Younger moms (aged 20 to 29 years) and adolescent mothers are less likely to ever breast-feed than mothers aged 30 years or older," Knox Public Health stated.
In fact, between the years of 2009 and 2011, only one in five mothers aged 12-19 chose to exclusively breast-feed their babies for the recommended time frame of six months, a report issued on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website said.
Breast-feeding has been proven to be a powerful measure against a number of health concerns for mother and child alike, such as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and risks of cancer as well as childhood obesity.
Lori Feldman-Winter, MD, MPH, explained that the significance of SIDS reduction rates from breast-feeding can be a lifesaver for many children.
“Since exclusive breast-feeding can reduce SIDS by more than 70%, improving teenage breast-feeding rates has powerful potential for improving infant health outcomes and reducing infant mortality,” Feldman-Winter told the NICHQ.
The NICHQ suggests that the challenge facing young mothers is oftentimes a lack of support. Despite being physically able to provide the nourishment their babies need, adolescent mothers may feel inadequate or incapable of successfully breast-feeding. There are 220,000 babies born to teenage mothers annually in the U.S., resulting in a great deal of room for improvement in the area of teen mom breast-feeding support, the CDC reported.
"Building resilience in new mothers is as important as ever as research shows that breastfeeding continues to be more than just milk, Heidi Myer, breastfeeding peer helper at Knox County Public Health, told Mount Vernon News. "The act of breastfeeding empowers mothers and equips babies with long term health benefits."
Teenage mothers who have been thrust into the role of mother are more likely to need affirmations in their breast-feeding journeys in order to continue long-term. Having relationships with peers in a similar situation and being encouraged to lean into their role as a mother can also prove highly effective in terms of improving breast-feeding rates in this age group.
Feldman-Winter noted that if given the right support, teen moms can feel a strong sense of contribution to their babies’ lives.
“We want all mothers to breast-feed immediately; but we need to be especially mindful of its importance for teen mothers,” Feldman-Winters said. “Early initiation sparks a positive feedback loop that helps balance out the insecurities that come with their age. Breast-feeding empowers them as mothers.”
August is National Breast-feeding Month.
