collaboration Archives - Our Milky Way

May 28, 2023May 28, 2023

Tips for infusing equity into philanthropy

In April, we reported on a thread that came up during the Black Birth Maternal & Infant Health Symposium: capitalism and how it influences health equity.

This month, the United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC) hosted Philanthropy with an Equity Lens featuring Dr. Cara V. James of Grantmakers in Health.

For those who couldn’t attend, there will be a recording sent to registrants. And if you missed registration, we’ve distilled the conversation in hopes that you’ll use it as a jumping-off point in your discovery or continued understanding of operationalizing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) or what is sometimes referred to as J.E.D.I. (Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion).

First off, USBC Senior Engagement & Training Manager Denae Schmidt and Dr. James made the distinction between operationalizing DEI and advancing health equity. Simply put, the former is the practice and the latter is the outcome. Dr. James suggested participants think of the distinction as the difference between who is doing the work and who is being served.

So, what practices are philanthropists adopting in order to serve the advancement of health equity?

Funders are reevaluating what is truly needed from grantseekers. Many are making the application process less tedious, acknowledging that many small organizations do not have the resources to “jump through hoops.”
Some funders are forgoing reporting requirements, adopting the concept of trust-based philanthropy. Trust-based philanthropy embraces the idea that the community has a lot of expertise, as Dr. James puts it. In this relationship, there is trust in the collaboration, a power share. Dr. James nods to MacKenzie Scott who tends to vet organizations on the front end in order to understand their focus, and then give funding with no strings attached.
Over the past five or so years, there has been a shift in the field to recognize that there needs to be more capacity-building for grant seekers. Catchafire is a “network of volunteers, nonprofits, and funders working together to solve urgent problems and lift up communities” offering pro bono services. Find out how that works here: https://vimeo.com/462743914
Dr. James reports that more people are starting to recognize that policy is an important piece in health equity. She said that we need to get “upstream” to address health disparities which means that we need to address the structures that lead to poor outcomes in conjunction with providing resources to organizations.

What are some tips for grant seekers?

Grantseekers can check funders’ websites for statements on commitments to DEI to make sure it’s a good fit for them. Grantseekers might also research what other projects funders have supported to get a sense of what kind of work they invest in.
Grantseekers might consider inviting potential funders to their events in order to engage with the community. Dr. James suggests not approaching the first meeting with funders with an “ask”.
Work alongside and across spaces to pool resources like talent and time. Collaboration expands reach, and this is desirable to funders.
Don’t be afraid to reach out to funders to get more information about how proposals can align more with their commitment.

Schmidt and Dr. James closed with some thoughts on why good intentions just aren’t good enough. Mainly, good intentions don’t always lead to action, Dr. James pointed out. And sometimes, she added, they can lead to harmful action. She reminded us that we didn’t start talking about health equity in 2020. These discussions had been happening long before, and what has been missing are the resources and the support in leadership.

What leadership talks about in public and in private signals what they care about, Dr. James continued. Individuals leading DEI initiatives need to have the authority and the respect to make decisions.

So, generally speaking, what can we all do to help operationalize DEI?

Take the courageous stand to commit to DEI.

Facilitate the collection and evaluation of DEI initiatives, so that we can gain an understanding of what is happening in these spaces.
Enter spaces with cultural humility. Recognize who is already in the space and what you can learn from them.

May 21, 2023

The enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge

I’ve been following this conversation started by the Grammar Girl:

“I was a guest on a podcast where kids asked two people questions to decide who was the fake and who was the real expert.

The host said that early on, the kids thought the fake was the expert every time because the actors answered every question confidently, and the experts would hedge or even sometimes say, ‘I don’t know.’

They eventually told the fakes to be less confident so the kids would have a chance of picking the expert sometimes.”

The Grammar Girl’s post was making a point specifically about ChatGPT, but the sentiment can be applied more generally, and in our case to the field of lactation and other perinatal care providers.

Some of my favorite comments on the Grammar Girl’s post include:

Never trust an expert who isn’t willing to admit that they don’t know.

Experts know that there are sometimes variables or gray areas, thus they don’t answer in terms of absolutes.

That makes me think of how an intelligent person (possibly an expert in something) is still curious and open minded enough to not always be sure of everything.

Those who are experts, look before they leap, stop before they comment, ask for help and do their research. Saying ‘I do not know’ is a strength.

It reminds me of the quote: ‘The enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.’

Individuals on the perinatal care team can get stuck in a rut where humility is absent, and this can become dangerous for their patients.

Debra Bingham of PQI, in a recent newsletter, reminds us of physiologic humility.

Bingham writes:

“Perinatal health professionals work tirelessly to provide the best care they can. Unfortunately, sometimes we get stuck performing “strong but wrong” routines. For example, we have centuries of evidence to tell us that physiologic birth practices are key to having the best outcomes. Yet, too often we do not practice what I like to call physiologic humility. Humility that the physiology of a woman’s body before, during, and after giving birth is complex and typically works well on its own. Thus, we should proceed with physiologic humility because there are so many limitations in our knowledge of the complex physiologic processes related to birth …

As perinatal health professionals it is our responsibility to do everything possible to ensure that women in our care get to experience Mother’s Day. Especially this month, may we all continue to keep that in mind and as a top priority.”

In all fields of care, cultural humility must also be maintained. As defined by the National Association of County & City Health Officials (NACCHO), cultural humility (CH) is “a lifelong process of self-reflection, used to better understand the multi-dimensional identities of clients in order to establish and maintain respectful, healthy, and productive relationships.” NACCHO’s Shifting the Care Paradigm Fact Sheet describes how lactation care providers can partner with families and their community to understand individual patients’ cultural background, experience and personal challenges, and specific goals.

In the U.S., perinatal care is often siloed; however, this trend seems to be evolving as care becomes more collaborative. Collaboration requires all care providers to exercise a level of humility, offering their expertise while respecting and hearing out other members of the care team. Most importantly though, care team members must work together to respect their patient’s wishes and facilitate informed decision making.

“Absolute certainty leaves little room for shared decision-making,” the author of Humility and the practice of medicine: tasting humble pie points out.

The author later concludes that “the cultivation of humility is often painful and requires a high level of self-awareness and reflective practice.”

A challenge indeed, but worth the effort. Consider “taking a bite” of “humble pie.” [Chochinov, 2010]

January 1, 2023January 1, 2023

Breastfeeding is part of a continuum.

–This post is part of our 10-year anniversary series “Breastfeeding is…”—

Breastfeeding is part of a continuum.

It has been hypothesized that starting around nine weeks of fetal development, the pattern and sequence of intrauterine movements of the fetus seem to be a survival mechanism, which is implemented by the newborn’s patterns of movement during the first hour after birth (described as the 9 stages) when skin-to-skin with the mother to facilitate breastfeeding.

Photo credit United States Breastfeeding Committee

This very behavior refutes the idea that breastfeeding is “an adjunct to birth” as it is generally viewed in maternity care settings in America.

Not only are human babies hardwired to progress through 9 stages and self attach to the breast, mammalian bodies are hardwired to produce milk too.

Around 16 weeks of pregnancy, the body starts to prepare for breastfeeding. This phase, called Lactogenesis I is when colostrum begins to be created. During Lactogenesis II, the secretion of copious milk follows the hormonal shift triggered by birth and the placenta delivery. After this phase, milk production must be maintained through a supply-and-demand-like system. [Neville 2001]

Even before a pregnancy is achieved, individuals are being influenced by the infant feeding culture that surrounds them, consciously or subconsciously laying a foundation for how they feel about feeding their own babies.

Pat Hoddinott’s, et al study found that women who had seen successful breastfeeding regularly and perceived this as a positive experience were more likely to initiate breastfeeding.

Exposure to prenatal breastfeeding education also affects breastfeeding outcomes. Irene M. Rosen and colleagues found that women who attended prenatal breastfeeding classes had significantly increased breastfeeding at 6 months when compared to controls.

Mode of birth and birth experiences influence infant feeding too, for both members of the dyad.

A growing body of evidence shows that birth by cesarean section is associated with early breastfeeding cessation.

Intrapartum exposure to the drugs fentanyl and synOT is associated with altered newborn infant behavior, including suckling, while in skin-to-skin contact with mother during the first hour after birth. [Brimdyr, et al 2019]

What’s more, the authors of Intrapartum Administration of Synthetic Oxytocin and Downstream Effects on Breastfeeding: Elucidating Physiologic Pathways found “No positive relationships between the administration of synthetic oxytocin and breastfeeding.” They comment, “Practices that could diminish the nearly ubiquitous practice of inducing and accelerating labor with the use of synthetic oxytocin should be considered when evaluating interventions that affect breastfeeding outcomes.”

In Transdisciplinary breastfeeding support: Creating program and policy synergy across the reproductive continuum, author Miriam Labbok takes a detailed look at “the power and potential of synergy between and among organizations and individuals supporting breastfeeding, the mother-child dyad, and reproductive health to increase sustainable breastfeeding support.”

Labbok points out that a paradigm shift on the issues in the reproductive continuum – family planning, pregnancy and birthing and breastfeeding– is needed.

“These are issues that are intimately, biologically, gender linked in women’s lives, and yet ones that are generally divided up to be addressed by a variety of different professional disciplines,” Labbok begins. “Despite the impact of child spacing on birthing success, of birthing practices on breastfeeding success, and of breastfeeding on child spacing, we are offered family planning services by a gynecologist, birth attendance by an obstetrician or midwife, and baby care by a pediatrician. Having these ‘silos’ of care, each with its own paradigm and priorities, may lead to conflicting messages, and hence, may undermine the search for mutuality in goals, and collaboration.”

One such initiative looking to deconstruct siloed care is the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative which includes standards and goals for birthing practices, for breastfeeding-friendly communities, and guidance for birth spacing, in addition to reconfirming the original Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding, in recognition that breastfeeding occurs along a continuum.

Source: United States Breastfeeding Committee

1,000 Days emphasizes how breastfeeding fits within the global picture as a crucial part of a whole.

In the U.S. context, the 1,000 Days initiative recognizes comprehensive health coverage, comprehensive guidelines on nutrition during pregnancy, lactation, and early childhood for women in the first 1,000 days, paid family and medical leave policy for all workers, and investments to ensure parents and caregivers can access good nutrition as solutions to a well nation and a well world.

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As part of our celebration, we are giving away an online learning module with contact hours each week. Here’s how to enter into the drawings:

Email info@ourmilkyway.org with your name and “OMW is 10” in the subject line.

This week, in the body of the email, please share with us some or all of your birth stor(ies).

Subsequent weeks will have a different prompt in the blog post.

We will conduct a new drawing each week over the 10-week period. Please email separately each week to be entered in the drawing. You may only win once. If your name is drawn, we will email a link with access to the learning module. The winner of the final week will score a grand finale swag bag.

December 4, 2022December 4, 2022

Breastfeeding is collaborative.

–This post is part of our 10-year anniversary series “Breastfeeding is…”—

Breastfeeding is collaborative.

A breastfeeding dyad is a beautiful, fascinating, complex organism. Mother and bab(ies) attend and respond to one another facilitating nourishment, the flow of hormones, immunity, learning and bonding, comfort, fun, an all-encompassing sensory experience that has generational impacts on social, emotional and physical health.

In this intimate depiction of a breastfeeding dyad, a world of collaborative intricacies occur: the undulation of baby’s tongue to help with milk removal, the contraction of myoepithelial cells thanks to oxytocin elicited by baby, the removal of milk to signal mother’s body to produce more, to name a few.

It’s clear that breastfeeding is so much more than “the healthiest feeding choice” nutritionally speaking. Take the following anecdotes for example.

Nikki Lee offers her commentary to this case report on infant botulism in an exclusively breastfed baby explaining how interactive feeding can save a baby’s life.

“One doesn’t have to ingest honey to contract botulism. Exclusively breastfed babies can get botulism. Some parts of the continental US have c.botulinum in the soil; construction stirs up the soil, and the germ floats in the air. The breastfeeding mother is the one to notice that the baby’s suck isn’t as strong. This is a reason that breastfed babies survive botulism, because they get diagnosed and treated sooner than bottle-fed babies.”

In this case, breastfeeding offered early detection of breast cancer in the mother because of her baby’s refusal to nurse from one side. This phenomenon is known as Goldsmith’s Sign.

To demonstrate the importance of the relationship that breastfeeding affords, we might consider the implications of separation. Lee again offers insight on the implications of mother baby separation in this piece.

Zooming out to view breastfeeding less individualistically and instead as a global food security system, we must recognize the collaboration necessary to support the breastfeeding dyad and abandon the idea that breastfeeding is a solitary act, a “one-woman job”.

In Breastfeeding as a ‘Resilient’ Food Security System: Celebrating…. And Problematizing Women’s Resilience in the face of chronic deprivation as well as emergencies, Dr. Vandana Prasad, MBBS, MRCP (Ped) UK, MPH describes breastfeeding as “wholly community-based”. Dr. Prasad continues that breastfeeding is potentially universally accessible and sustainable because it “depends wholly upon the status of time, energy, health, nutrition and general availability of women”. This achievement, breastfeeding as definitely universally accessible and sustainable, would require collaborative efforts by “governments, decision-makers, development partners, professional bodies, academia, media, advocates, and other stakeholders” working together, as Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus writes.

In the U.S., WIC has created an interactive resource “to help reinforce the important role that family and friends play in supporting breastfeeding moms.” The resource invites WIC staff to “click through the prompts with parents, grandparents, and others discussing when and how to offer helpful support so that mom and baby continue to thrive.”

At an organizational level, the United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC) uses a collective impact approach to manage multi-sectoral collaborations, working to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding and human milk feeding.

Internationally, the Global Breastfeeding Collective calls on donors, policy makers and civil society to increase investment in breastfeeding worldwide.

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As part of our celebration, we are giving away an online learning module with contact hours each week. Here’s how to enter into the drawings:

Email info@ourmilkyway.org with your name and “OMW is 10” in the subject line.

This week, in the body of the email, tell us: Who is your s/hero in the field of maternal child health?

Subsequent weeks will have a different prompt in the blog post.

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