The Global Initiative for Mother Support GIMS for Breastfeeding

The Mother Support Task Force (MSTF) wants to share with you the following recommendations from the GIMS workshops: - Direct-to-Mother Support - Health Care System - Women who work outside of their homes - Social-Community Environment

Direct-to-Mother Support  Participants from the Health Professional area emphasized that support from mothers begins with listening, empathy, and respect for her culture.  Promote and strengthen the important role of the doula in the direct-to-mother support during the process of pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding

 TBAs need training on optimal infant feeding practices in order to improve exclusive breastfeeding.  Local networking for capacity building in rural areas: - community breastfeeding counselors - lactation consultants

Health Care System  Take more advantage of every prenatal visit to inform the mother about breastfeeding information  Promote a culture of care during birth  Adapt BFHI to the home birthing setting

 Develop guidelines for GIMS that can be included in national policy  Create the conditions through which mothers and babies can be together during the illness of the mother and/or baby

Women who work outside of their homes  Develop educational materials at all levels in the area of expression, storage, and the mode of delivery of human milk  Broaden the available options for mothers to combine breastfeeding and working - Explore creative ways in which women can share their experiences at any social level - Sensitize and mobilize communities to support the working mother, with emphasis on the role of the father

Social-Community Environment  Ensure the provision of information on breastfeeding within the social-community environment that is: - consistent - accurate - updated - factual - practical - appealing - timely

Recognizing the diversity of cultures, different economic levels, diverse geographical regions, and languages, the MSTF is committed to: -Serve as a support resource to those interested in implementing GIMS in all countries -Strengthen the participative and proactive leadership for GIMS around the world In order to follow-up with these recommendations, the MSTF is committed to the following ideas for action:

-Promote capacity building on support for the mother at all levels -Create an awareness of the value of the existing support and build on it -Disseminate the need that mothers have for support during the process of pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding

- Empower the mother, through different strategies, for her to know that she has the right to be supported during her pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding - Develop an assessment of the different programs, cultures, projects that exist on mother support, and learn from their successes

CATCHY PHRASES: “Care for Mothers Equals Care for a Nation” “Breastfeeding– Sweet Responsibility of All” “Information is Power!”

We invite each and one of you to include the concept of support in all your trainings, informational materials, conferences, and meetings, involving as many elements of support as possible. We ask you to commit to your personal involvement to create an effective supportive environment for mothers. THANK YOU!