New Mothers To Benefit From Increased Access To Key Breastfeeding Information Resource

Main Category: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Article Date: 18 Feb 2009 - 7:00 PDT

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Pioneering charity MIDIRS, renowned for its groundbreaking information resources for health care professionals, announced this week a major step forward in its mission to provide pregnant women, new mothers and their families with the best evidence-based information surrounding maternity care.

The development follows recent discussions between MIDIRS and global leader in life style, health care and technology, Philips, who confirmed that its 9,000 strong team of health care Professional Forum members will have the opportunity to request free copies of both the women's and professionals' versions of MIDIRS Informed Choice leaflet on infant feeding (http://www.infochoice.org).

The resource, available to registered members from the Philips AVENT Professional Forum Online Resource Bank on the mybabytalk website (http://www.mybabytalk.co.uk), will complement Philips existing bank of practical tools and aids designed to support health care professionals with their work in supporting new mothers to breastfeed their babies.

Andy Fisher, MIDIRS Business Manager, said 'To many health care practitioners the Informed Choice resource remains integral to midwifery service provision on a daily basis. The opportunity to further assist women in accessing information to improve knowledge and choices during pregnancy, birth and beyond, is of vital importance if they are to make decisions that are right for themselves and their babies'.

'Philips established contact with their Forum members, presents a fantastic opportunity with which to empower women and advise them on making informed choices and to demonstrate how MIDIRS Informed Choice leaflets can support their decisions. We very much look forward to working with Philips to achieve this'.

Completely unbiased and evidence-based, MIDIRS Informed Choice series of 25 leaflets is seen as a groundbreaking resource for health care professionals, pregnant women, new mothers and their families. The leaflets Breastfeeding or bottle feeding for professionals and Feeding your baby - breast or bottle for women, are supportive of WHO (World Health Organization) recommendations on breastfeeding, and are written in a context that respects and supports a mother's choice in how she wishes to feed her baby, while being supportive of babies receiving breast milk wherever possible.

The news follows the recent launch of MIDIRS consumer website http://www.choicesforbirth.org, for which the Informed Choice resource helps form the basis of the website's content.

Notes

1. MIDIRS is a Bristol based not-for-profit organisation offering a complete information service to all health professionals, non-statutory agencies or anyone involved in the care of women and their babies during and after pregnancy. Its organisational mission is 'to be the leading international information resource relating to childbirth and infancy, disseminating this information as widely as possible to assist in the improvement of maternity care'.

MIDIRS respects and supports a mother's choice in how she wishes to feed her baby, while being supportive of babies receiving breast milk wherever this is possible. MIDIRS is committed to promoting, supporting and protecting breast milk as the optimal nutrition and health protection for newborn babies and infants. As an active member of both the Breastfeeding Coalition and Baby Feeding Law Group UK, and a staunch supporter of the Breastfeeding Manifesto, MIDIRS embraces the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation that mothers exclusively breastfeed for the first six months of their baby's life, and continue breastfeeding for two years or more.

2. MIDIRS Informed Choice is a comprehensive set of 25 titles which examine key decisions facing expectant mothers during pregnancy. There are two leaflets for each topic, one for pregnant women and one for health professionals. The women's leaflets are designed to assist them in making informed choices, by providing the facts to help them make decisions that are right for them in their pregnancy. The professional leaflets aim to provide midwives with sound evidence upon which to base their practice.

3. In September 2006, Philips, a global leader in life style, health care and technology, was united with AVENT. These two companies, both with histories of innovation, are a perfect fit. Philips, in its commitment to promote well-being, develops life style products that make good health easier to achieve. This commitment works in tandem with the AVENT goal to create the highest quality baby care and feeding products in the world.

For further information contact: Sue Penn on 0117 9077594, e-mail spenn@midirs.org Alternatively visit http://www.choicesforbirth.orgfor consumers or http://www.infochoice.org for professionals

MIDIRS

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