WRKO-AM, Boston - Text Transcript

WRKO: Sir what are some of the points that you'd like to get across today?

SG: Well first of all I want to make sure that moms and those who are pregnant or considering having a child understand the importance of breastfeeding. This is the Year of the Healthy Child and it's also National Breastfeeding Month and the benefits of breastfeeding are very important to understand. Your child will have less infections; ear infections, respiratory infections, less diarrhea, less chance of obesity. So overall your chances of raising a healthier child are improved with breastfeeding.

WRKO: And what else? What else should expectant mothers or women who are contemplating getting pregnant, what else should they be thinking about?

SG: I'm glad you asked that question because it's so important that they understand the comprehensiveness of what needs to be done during the pregnancy period as well as post partum, or after birth. They should be taking multi-vitamins and folic acid. That has shown to decrease the amounts of birth defects. They should be getting regular prenatal care, seeing an obstetrician, making sure growth and development is going well, as well as their own eating habits are appropriate to support the growing baby. After birth, making sure you have regular appointments with your pediatrician for the baby's immunizations and tracking growth and development. That's all part of the Year of the Healthy Child. And of course this month, we're emphasizing the breastfeeding aspects.

WRKO: There are other things as well I know that have been pointed at. Things like safety-proofing your home and using care when putting the baby to sleep. Can you talk about some of those issues?

SG: You bet. In the comprehensive approach, looking at all aspects of a baby's growth and development, safety is extremely important. Making sure that your baby is placed appropriately, eats safely, that things are not in the crib that shouldn't be there: small objects that could be in the baby's mouth and cause choking. And as they grow, and they start to become toddlers, making sure that the house is baby safe. That cabinets can't be pulled from the ground level where they can get the cleaning things. Because kids have a natural tendency to want to taste everything and put it in their mouths. So making the house baby-proof...and one of the best ways to do that is getting down on your hands and knees and seeing what your baby sees as they become toddlers, and making sure that there's nothing accessible to them so that they could harm themselves.

WRKO: Getting back to the breastfeeding issue, which I know you said that you were emphasizing. Is there reluctance among women to breastfeed? Why is it necessary to reinforce the importance of breastfeeding?

SG: The reason it's important to reinforce this is that our numbers show us that since 1950, breastfeeding dropped off pretty significantly. Up until 1950 almost 100 percent of moms breastfed. And as you move forward and our society changed, more moms went to work, cultural changes, a lot of things happening, we see that number has dropped significantly. In 1967 now it's only one quarter of mom's breastfeeding. Now it increases for a short time after birth, but still, at six months, we're still at about 27 percent. So we want to make sure that moms understand how important this is, and society does everything it can to accommodate the working mom and the mom who's out with their children so they can breastfeed, as much as possible.

WRKO: And by that you would, by accommodating them, what do you mean?

SG: Well, there are a lot of communities where there's been the debate regarding if moms should be able to breastfeed in public. Our take on that is that communities should do everything they possibly can to encourage moms to breastfeed and provide them those opportunities. And a lot of that is community specific. But we urge every community to consider the importance of the growth and development of children and how it is enhanced by breastfeeding.

WRKO: Last question general. Overall in this country, are we seeing improvements in the health of newborns? Have we made strides in that area?

SG: In general, we have. We're looking at our 2010 metrics, that is what we're going to judge ourselves with as a society for improving the health status of our children...And in general we have some improvements, but we can't be lulled into a false sense of complacency. Eighty percent of our children are getting their immunizations; 20 percent are not. We see that we still have 150,000 birth defects every year of which approximately 80 percent are preventable through good prenatal care, folic acid, vitamins, and watching the growth and development of that baby in utero by the people appropriately trained to do so. So a lot of it is just good prevention and knowledge to moms to be proactive in their gestational period, as well as postpartum.

Content last updated August 15, 2005.