FED IS BEST FOUNDATION

1) Change global policies in infant feeding to ensure the safety of all infants. 2) Educate mothers and health professionals on the safe thresholds of infant feeding including when it is necessary to supplement to protect a child's brain and prevent long-term disability. 3) Advocate for hospital infant feeding policies that protect the safety and human rights of newborns. 4) Advocate for federal legislation to require monitoring of infant feeding complications by the CDC, to institute policies to renew and update national standards for preventing infant feeding complications based on current evidence and to require public health outreach on the protection of infants from accidental insufficient feeding and the related brain injury it causes.

We are reaching top officials of infant health and insurance organizations to advocate for safe infant feeding by presenting scientific data on the high rates of infant feeding complications caused by aggressive and restrictive exclusive breastfeeding promotion. We continue our public health outreach to mothers and health professionals on the signs of newborn hunger, jaundice, dehydration and hypoglycemia, how to achieve optimal breastfeeding latch, how to supplement while protecting breast milk supply, how to properly prepare formula and how to advocate for your child's safety while in the hospital. Jaundice, the leading brain-threatening complication of exclusive breastfeeding, is the leading cause of U.S. newborn rehospitalizations with 78% of rehospitalized newborns requiring phototherapy. Based on recent published data from one Baby-Friendly-certified hospital system, the annual cost of that one system's phototherapy admissions was $49 million a year. With a U.S. breastfeeding initiation rate 79% of 4 million babies born annually, presuming the majority start with exclusive breastfeeding, a phototherapy complication rate of 10.1% and the average cost of neonatal admission of $14,000, that amounts to $4.5 billion dollars a year in phototherapy admissions. We hope to reduce these complications by showing mothers the signs of newborn distress that indicate hunger and the role of supplementation to prevent jaundice, dehydration and hypoglycemia that can result in preventable hospitalization and permanent brain injury.

We have a large group of extremely dedicated and talented volunteer advocates including physicians, nurses, lactation professionals, attorneys, scientists, epidemiologists, mental health professionals, community activists and mother advocates who contribute their time and their talents to achieving the goals of the Foundation.

So far we have met with top officials of the CMS/CMCS Medicare/Medicaid program, which funds 45% of all U.S. births to raise awareness of the high-rates of infant feeding complications caused by restrictive breastfeeding policies and the high emotional and financial toll these complications have on families. We provided evidence on the cost of extended and repeat hospitalization of newborns and the astronomical cost of lifetime care for brain-injured newborns experiencing these complications. We provided concrete recommendations for change in insurance reimbursement policies to prevent these complications including requiring monitoring and reporting of newborn feeding complications to the public, requiring next-day follow-up of discharged exclusively breastfed newborns, designating hypernatremic dehydration as a "never event," requiring informed consent of the known complications of exclusive breastfeeding, which are among the leading causes of newborn hospitalization and requiring physician supervision of lactation consultants. Finally, we recently met with top officials of the World Health Organization Breastfeeding, Infant Feeding program and provided them education on the high rates of brain-threatening complications caused by aggressive promotion of exclusive breastfeeding in the developed and developing world. We advocated for public recognition of the common problem of insufficient breast milk and the role of supplementation to protect the life and brain of an underfed breastfed newborn. We are currently raising awareness on the responses of these organizations to our campaign to make them accountable for providing safe, ethical and honest infant feeding education and guidelines to promote the health and human potential of babies across the globe.