The World Breastfeeding Week starts today, under the theme “Sustaining Breastfeeding Together”. This is the occasion to remind that a stable isotope technique provides us with a unique opportunity to assess breastfeeding practices objectively.
A non-radioactive stable isotope technique, known as deuterium oxide dose-to-mother technique[1], offers a way to obtain accurate and objective information on breastfeeding practices, in particular on the intensity of breastfeeding. This isotope technique, which the IAEA helps Member States master, can help determine if a baby is breastfed exclusively, according to these international guidelines, as well as tell how much human milk is consumed by breastfed infants. The method is already being successfully applied with IAEA assistance in almost 30 countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean, to objectively monitor and assess the impact of breastfeeding promotion programmes for improving the health of mothers and their babies.
