Nonprofit group promotes benefits of breast-feeding

Family to Family also offers free programs on caring for babies

Marlene Karas/ViewAmy Vanus, left, breast-feeds her son Cohen while Melanie Facer massages her daughter Sadie during an infant massage class on Nov. 6 at Family to Family Connection Las Vegas West, 6114 W. Charleston Blvd. Advertisement

Only 30.6 percent of babies in Nevada are breast fed past age 6 months, according to a survey done by Ross Products, makers of Similac baby food. Family to Family Connection Las Vegas West is out to increase that number.

"At Family to Family, we know the crucial role that breast feeding plays in a child's early development, as well as the benefits it provides to mothers," said director Dianne Farkas.

Clients of the 6114 W. Charleston Blvd. center's lactation services have shown higher results, with 48 percent still breast feeding after age 6 months.

The nonprofit organization offers free services to families of infants and toddlers up to age 4. Classes include infant massage, making baby food, how to diaper an infant and baby sign language. Each month, the organization also supports a breast feeding support group with meeting times that vary.

The center's programs include home visits for nursing mothers.

Family to Family cites information taken from the National Center for Health Statistics and studies published in the medical journal The Lancet, stating benefits to the child include protecting the baby from gastrointestinal trouble, childhood leukemia, respiratory problems and ear infections. Another perk is that breast feeding may reduce a child's risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. As for mom, the organization states that breast feeding may reduce the risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer and osteoporosis, as well as strengthen the mother-child bond.

Regina Vaccari, a freelance marketing worker who is 29 and a new mother, said there was never any question that she would breast feed her daughter. It fit with her lifestyle -- eating whole foods and deciding to have a natural birth at home.

She credits breast feeding will helping her heal faster. She also said she liked the bonding time that breast feeding allowed the convenience of "never having to take a bottle with me."

Vaccari plans to breast feed her 9-month-old daughter Islah until age 1.

UNICEF's Web site, www.childinfo.org, states that women in some countries continue breast feeding their children until age 2. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants be exclusively breast fed for about the first 6 months and that breast feeding continue with appropriate food supplementation for at least 12 months and thereafter for as long as mutually desired by the mother and the child.

According to the U.S. government's Healthy People 2010 report, 50 percent of all babies will be breast fed at 6 months of age by the year 2010.

One of the considerations mothers face is being looked upon with a disapproving eye.

"Once people see you breast feeding a child who is 4 or 5 months old, they start giving you strange looks," said Michelle Lemieux, a maternity nurse at Mountain View Hospital who is affiliated with the center.

For more information on Family to Family's programs, call 870-9583 or visit the Family to Family Connection Web site at newbabycenter.com.