Hoki ki te ukaipo: Reinstating Māori infant care practices to increase breastfeeding rates.

Abstract

Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, have retained few of their traditions from pre-European colonisation times. Breastfeeding is one of the practices that have undergone an ideological shift from being an assumed part of infant care to becoming a lifestyle choice. The process of colonisation, the introduction of foreign infant care practices and the establishment of infant welfare organisations and services impacted greatly upon Māori women and infants. The spread of the use of artificial baby milk from the early 1900s via Plunket, and the growth of what was to become a multinational artificial baby milk and artificial baby food industry, contributed to the decline in breastfeeding as a normal practice. Contemporary studies with Māori women and their whānau have helped to identify the barriers to breastfeeding and potential foci for intervention. The artificial baby milk industry can be likened to the tobacco industry because of the serious effects on Māori health. The actual contribution of the artificial baby milk industry to Māori babies having the lowest rates of breastfeeding in New Zealand, however, has yet to be studied.