In late March, Maggie Butler presented “Unbreastfed”: The far-reaching consequences of water insecurity for infant feeding” at the 13th Breastfeeding and Feminism International Conference in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Maggie shared preliminary qualitative analyses from 11 of the 28 sites in the Household Water Insecurity Experiences (HWISE) study. The analyses were based on responses to an open-ended question about how water insecurity affects how infants under 12 months of age are fed. Water insecurity was perceived to be harmful to both breastfeeding and complementary feeding through five pathways: economic, nutritional, hygienic, psychosocial, and maternal responsibilities/societal expectations.
The presentation was given at the beginning of a plenary panel session on the global challenges of breastfeeding, alongside presentations about the ethics of human milk donation and breastfeeding during emergency situations in Canada and Puerto Rico.
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