手機版
Lucy Rock
The Observer, Sunday 9 October 2011
2011年10月9日 星期天
The government is urged to act on new research that shows the importance of a baby's early weeks to success in later life.
政府鼓勵在新研究上下功夫，該研究表明嬰兒最初幾周在其將來人生中取得成功起重要作用。
Encouraging disadvantaged mothers to breastfeed should be a key part of the government's plan for improving social mobility, according to leading academics and health experts.
據知名學者和健康專家說，鼓勵弱勢母親用母乳喂養嬰兒應該是政府計劃為提高社會流動性的一個重要環節。
Their demand comes as research into the effects of breastfeeding, to be presented at a conference in London this week, shows that it can boost children's IQ and health and reduces the chances of behavioural and weight problems.
他們的要求在母乳喂養研究中生效，該要求是本周在倫敦召開的一次會議上提出的，研究表明母乳喂養能提高兒童智商、增進健康、減少患行為缺失和體重問題的幾率。
The coalition's social mobility strategy aims to ensure "everyone has a fair opportunity to fulfil their potential, regardless of the circumstances of their birth". A commission established to oversee the strategy has devised a list of key indicators by which social mobility can be measured, enabling the government to see where intervention could make the most impact.
聯盟的社會流動性策略目標是確保“每個人都有機會展示他們的潛能，不管他們的出身情況如何。”監督該策略的委員會已制定了一份可用來衡量社會流動性的關鍵指標的列表，以確保政府能看到干預帶來的巨大影響。
Researchers at the University of Essex's Institute of Social & Economic Research and the University of Oxford have spent the past two years looking at the impact of breastfeeding, excluding other factors such as social class, home environment and parents' education.
來自埃塞克斯大學的社會與經濟研究所和牛津大學的研究人員，已經花了兩年時間調查母乳喂養的影響，其他因素除外，如社會階層、家庭環境以及父母受教育程度。
A policy document based on this research and other studies in the fields of epidemiology and public health, to be discussed at the conference hosted by the institute at the British Academy on Wednesday, says: "Aligning breastfeeding with social mobility may seem tenuous, but a body of recent research shows that an individual's behavioural and psycho-social outcomes have a significant impact on adult earnings and education. Differences in children's cognitive development emerge at early ages, and the importance of timely parental investments is increasingly recognised as a major factor in fostering child development.
一份基于這項研究和在流行病學及公共衛生領域研究的政策性文件，上周三在由英國科學院的研究所主辦的會議上被討論，文件上說“用母乳喂養來調整社會流動性看起來很脆弱，但是近期的一項研究表明，個人行為和社會心理的結果對一個人的收入和教育上有很大影響。在兒童早期的認知發展過程中會出現差別，父母及時投資很重要，這也正越來越被認為是促進兒童發展的一個重要因素。”
"If research can demonstrate the extent to which positive outcomes are the result of breastfeeding, rather than arising from social factors, then there is a strong case for supporting and encouraging breastfeeding as an early intervention policy that can improve a child's life chances, particularly targeting young and disadvantaged mothers."
“如果研究能證明母乳喂養帶來的積極成果能達到的程度，不是社會因素引起的，那么，母乳喂養做為能提高兒童（特別是針對年輕和弱勢的母親）生活機會的早期干預政策，就有了一個強有力的支持和鼓勵。”
The research, which will be presented at the conference, shows there are many positive effects of breastfeeding: it reduces the likelihood of a child having behavioural problems at age five – 6% of full-term babies breastfed for four months have these issues compared with 16% of formula-fed babies; it increases the IQ of children breastfed for four weeks or more by around three points; it reduces the chances of a baby needing hospital treatment for diarrhoea or lower respiratory tract infections. Currently there is a large social gap in breastfeeding rates, with the most privileged mothers being several times more likely to breastfeed than the least privileged, according to the policy document.
會議上將要提出的研究表明，母乳喂養有很多積極的影響：降低了兒童在5歲時患行為問題的可能性 - 與16%用配方奶喂養的嬰兒相比較，用母乳喂養的足月嬰兒四個月大時只有6%有這些問題；母乳喂養三周或三周以上大概在三個方面提高了嬰兒的智商；降低了嬰兒需要住院治療腹瀉或下呼吸道感染的幾率。目前，在母乳喂養率上有很大的社會差異，根據政策文件，最具特權的母親比最不具特權的母親用母乳喂養的可能性大好幾倍。
Dr Emilia Del Bono, an economist at the ISER, said: "There seems to be evidence of benefits of breastfeeding in relation not just to health – which are already widely known – but also, and perhaps more controversially, in the cognitive, emotional and behavioural domains. There is a strong argument that the government should include breastfeeding on its list of social mobility indicators."
ISER 的一名經濟學家 Emilia Del Bono 博士說：“似乎有證據顯示母乳喂養不僅對健康有好處，這一點已經被廣泛認同，而且對認知、情感和行為領域也有好處，在這方面可能更具爭議。”
The social mobility and child poverty commission's list of indicators of success in improving social mobility for each life stage includes birth weight, results at key stage 2 , GCSE and A-level, and participation in education or training between the ages of 18 and 24.
社會流動性與兒童貧窮委員會的指標列表結果在關鍵階段2、GCSE和A級，該指標成功為每個生命階段提高了包括出生體重在內的社會流動性，并參與18到24歲年齡段的教育和培訓。
Del Bono said: "There are quite a lot of established indicators on the list, for example performance at 'key stage 1 and 2', but few in terms of inequalities in health or health behaviours apart from birth weight.
Del Bono 說：“列表中有相當多的既定指標，如在'關鍵階段1和2’的表現，但是，除了出生體重以外，很少在健康或健康行為方面失衡。”
"We know that health inequalities at the early stages translate into inequalities in terms of achievement later in life. If you want to talk about social mobility and early stages intervention, you have to look at the health side very closely."
“我們知道，幼年階段的健康失衡會導致后來的成就失衡。如果你想討論社會流動性和早期階段干預，你必須密切關注健康方面。”
However, the findings show that it could only be prolonged – more than four months – and exclusive breastfeeding that offers substantial benefits in the health and cognitive and behavioural development of a child.
然而，研究結果發現，純母乳喂養只能持續最多4個月，為兒童在健康、認知和行為發展方面提供實實在在的好處。
Although millions have been spent on the promotion of breastfeeding in the past decade, Britain has one of the world's lowest rates of breastfeeding, with 35% of babies exclusively breastfed at one week old, 21% at six weeks, 7% at four months and 3% at six months. There has been much debate about the fact that some mothers who find it difficult to breastfeed are made to feel guilty for bottle-feeding.
盡管過去十年間有上百萬人提倡母乳喂養，英國是世界上母乳喂養率最低的國家之一，一周大嬰兒純母乳喂養率為35%，六周大的21%，四個月大的7%，六個月大的3%。有些母親發現很難用母乳喂養，她們也為奶瓶喂養感到內疚，現在有關事實真相還存在很多爭論。
Del Bono's research has found that mothers who receive good post-natal support in hospitals, following Unicef's "baby-friendly initiative" are 14.6% more likely to breastfeed and 6.6% more likely to continue to breastfeed exclusively four weeks after the birth. These effects are stronger for less educated and more economically disadvantaged mothers.
Del Bono 研究發現，根據聯合國兒童基金會的“愛嬰倡議”，在醫院得到好的產后護理的母親中，有14.6%更愿意用母乳喂養，還有6.6%愿意在嬰兒出生后持續用母乳喂養4周。這些效果在那些受教育程度低和經濟來源弱勢的母親身上體現地更為強烈。
Del Bono added: "We need to see initiatives to support mothers not just to start breastfeeding, but to continue beyond the early days and weeks. Some policies that have been put in place, for example the promotion of breastfeeding in hospital, are good at encouraging mothers to breastfeed in the short term. But, in the long term, mothers need support and encouragement."
Del Bono 補充說：“我們需要行動起來，支持母親們不僅在嬰兒出生時用母乳喂養，而且要持續喂養超過幾天甚至幾周。一些已經落實到位的政策鼓勵母親們在短期內用母乳喂養很有效，例如在醫院鼓勵母乳喂養。”
"It's clear already that breastfeeding provides more benefits the longer you do it. But in fact, we know very little about the effects of breastfeeding at long durations, because so few women breastfeed for more than a few weeks. It's only when more women start breastfeeding for longer periods that we will have the data necessary to investigate these effects."
“很明顯，母乳喂養時間越長好處越多。但實際上，在很長一段時間內我們對母乳喂養的影響知之甚少，因為很少有母親用母乳喂養超過幾周的。只有當越來越多的母親開始用母乳長時間的喂養，我們才有足夠的數據來研究這些影響。”
A senior Liberal Democrat source said: "We expect the social mobility and child poverty commission to report on the progress of the indicators and to tell us whether they are the right ones. The current list is a good start but it does not have to be the final word."
一位資深的自由民主黨員說“我們期待社會流動性和兒童貧困委員會報告指標的進展，并告訴我們他們是否正確。目前的列表是一個好的開始，但還沒有一錘定音。”
相關閱讀：母乳喂養的最大受益者是母親,其次才是嬰兒
