Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 12 May 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Updates on Breastfeeding: Discussion

Ms Geraldine Cahill:

I honestly believe that if women do not have information about the risks of not breastfeeding then they are not in a position to make a decision about breastfeeding. We do not give information to people about the risks of formula feeding so women are not making an informed choice. Let us remember that breastfeeding is a human right of the baby and that is declared in the Innocenti Declaration of 1990. It is a baby's human right to be breastfed. While it is a woman's choice to breastfeed, if women do not have the information on the risks that they are causing their babies then they cannot make proper choices.