Before colonisation in a Maori society the entire iwi looked after the pregnant and breastfeeding women, the mothers may have also breastfeed a number of babies especially if the birth mother was unable to do so, this was called whāngai- ū (wet nursing). In the earlier years breastfeeding was the norm for society but by the mid 1800’s breastfeeding was seen as ‘unfashionable’ especially for urban, mid class mothers who believed it was time consuming and did not fit in with their lifestyle (National Breastfeeding Campaign, 2010).
There were two legislations that came out in the 1900’s that was believed to have a major impact on breastfeeding in Maori society. They were the Infants Act 1908 which restricted people to have an infant in their care that the female nursed for more than 7days unless she was licensed as the foster-parent. The other legislation was The Native Land Act 1909 which put an end to customary Maori adoption. These laws were believed to have directly demoralized whāngai-ū (wet nursing) and whāngai, which is an adoption process within the Maori culture where other family members parent an infant and can include breastfeeding. (National Breastfeeding campaign, 2010).
In the 1900’s the belief that breastfeeding was ‘unfashionable’ disappeared. This was partly because of Dr. Truby King’s influence who believed that mentally ill patient’s insanity was linked to poor infant nutrition. Dr. Truby King made it his mission to see that babies were breastfeed as much as possible.
In more recent year’s breastfeeding has been strongly supported by the Ministry of Health, Plunket, La Leche League (a support group founded in the US in 1964 by 7 women who wanted to make breastfeeding easier) and many other support groups. Breastfeeding is supported and promoted through campaigns, posters and New Zealand also has a breastfeeding week which is celebrated every year from the 1st -7th August.
Although breastfeeding is thoroughly promoted through these organisations and support groups there has been little improvement over the past ten years (since 2002) in New Zealand’s statistics of breastfeeding. Maori and Pacific people have remained in a consistently low statistic even after a number of initiatives have been set up to specifically target supporting Maori women to breastfeed (New Zealand Ministry of Health, 2002).
There are many benefits to breastfeeding and a lot of support for not only mothers who breastfeed but also for fathers to support their partner through the process of breastfeeding. So why are New Zealand’s statistics so low? Does it have to do with the way society views breastfeeding? Or are there other reasons? This is what I will be looking at in my next blog entry so until then have a good week!
References:
La Leche League New Zealand. (2011). Breastfeeding a baby. Retrieved March 19, 2011 from: http://www.lalecheleague.org.nz/
National Breastfeeding Campaign. (2010). Breastfeeding in New Zealand. Did you know? Retrieved March 16, 2011 from: http://breastfeedingnz.wordpress.com/breastfeeding-in-new-zealand-did-you-know/
New Zealand Ministry of Health. (2002). New Zealand's breastfeeding rates - statistics from breastfeeding: A Guide to Action. Retrieved March 19, 2011 from: http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/82f4780aa066f8d7cc2570bb006b5d4d/b2c10ff5e960e1edcc256dc10077c608?OpenDocument
Royal New Zealand Plunket society. (2010). Breastfeeding data. Retrieved March 19, 2011 from: http://www.plunket.org.nz/uploads/file/PDF%20documents%20for%20the%20website/Research/Breastfeeding%20Data%20-%20Analysis%20of%202004%20-%202009%20data.pdf
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