手机版
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.
政府鼓励在新研究上下功夫，该研究表明婴儿最初几周在其将来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.
据知名学者和健康专家说，鼓励弱势母亲用母乳喂养婴儿应该是政府计划为提高社会流动性的一个重要环节。
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.
他们的要求在母乳喂养研究中生效，该要求是本周在伦敦召开的一次会议上提出的，研究表明母乳喂养能提高儿童智商、增进健康、减少患行为缺失和体重问题的几率。
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.
联盟的社会流动性策略目标是确保“每个人都有机会展示他们的潜能，不管他们的出身情况如何。”监督该策略的委员会已制定了一份可用来衡量社会流动性的关键指标的列表，以确保政府能看到干预带来的巨大影响。
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.
来自埃塞克斯大学的社会与经济研究所和牛津大学的研究人员，已经花了两年时间调查母乳喂养的影响，其他因素除外，如社会阶层、家庭环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.
一份基于这项研究和在流行病学及公共卫生领域研究的政策性文件，上周三在由英国科学院的研究所主办的会议上被讨论，文件上说“用母乳喂养来调整社会流动性看起来很脆弱，但是近期的一项研究表明，个人行为和社会心理的结果对一个人的收入和教育上有很大影响。在儿童早期的认知发展过程中会出现差别，父母及时投资很重要，这也正越来越被认为是促进儿童发展的一个重要因素。”
"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."
“如果研究能证明母乳喂养带来的积极成果能达到的程度，不是社会因素引起的，那么，母乳喂养做为能提高儿童（特别是针对年轻和弱势的母亲）生活机会的早期干预政策，就有了一个强有力的支持和鼓励。”
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.
会议上将要提出的研究表明，母乳喂养有很多积极的影响：降低了儿童在5岁时患行为问题的可能性 - 与16%用配方奶喂养的婴儿相比较，用母乳喂养的足月婴儿四个月大时只有6%有这些问题；母乳喂养三周或三周以上大概在三个方面提高了婴儿的智商；降低了婴儿需要住院治疗腹泻或下呼吸道感染的几率。目前，在母乳喂养率上有很大的社会差异，根据政策文件，最具特权的母亲比最不具特权的母亲用母乳喂养的可能性大好几倍。
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 的一名经济学家 Emilia Del Bono 博士说：“似乎有证据显示母乳喂养不仅对健康有好处，这一点已经被广泛认同，而且对认知、情感和行为领域也有好处，在这方面可能更具争议。”
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.
社会流动性与儿童贫穷委员会的指标列表结果在关键阶段2、GCSE和A级，该指标成功为每个生命阶段提高了包括出生体重在内的社会流动性，并参与18到24岁年龄段的教育和培训。
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 说：“列表中有相当多的既定指标，如在'关键阶段1和2’的表现，但是，除了出生体重以外，很少在健康或健康行为方面失衡。”
"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."
“我们知道，幼年阶段的健康失衡会导致后来的成就失衡。如果你想讨论社会流动性和早期阶段干预，你必须密切关注健康方面。”
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，研究结果发现，纯母乳喂养只能持续最多4个月，为儿童在健康、认知和行为发展方面提供实实在在的好处。
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.
尽管过去十年间有上百万人提倡母乳喂养，英国是世界上母乳喂养率最低的国家之一，一周大婴儿纯母乳喂养率为35%，六周大的21%，四个月大的7%，六个月大的3%。有些母亲发现很难用母乳喂养，她们也为奶瓶喂养感到内疚，现在有关事实真相还存在很多争论。
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 研究发现，根据联合国儿童基金会的“爱婴倡议”，在医院得到好的产后护理的母亲中，有14.6%更愿意用母乳喂养，还有6.6%愿意在婴儿出生后持续用母乳喂养4周。这些效果在那些受教育程度低和经济来源弱势的母亲身上体现地更为强烈。
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 补充说：“我们需要行动起来，支持母亲们不仅在婴儿出生时用母乳喂养，而且要持续喂养超过几天甚至几周。一些已经落实到位的政策鼓励母亲们在短期内用母乳喂养很有效，例如在医院鼓励母乳喂养。”
"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."
“很明显，母乳喂养时间越长好处越多。但实际上，在很长一段时间内我们对母乳喂养的影响知之甚少，因为很少有母亲用母乳喂养超过几周的。只有当越来越多的母亲开始用母乳长时间的喂养，我们才有足够的数据来研究这些影响。”
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."
一位资深的自由民主党员说“我们期待社会流动性和儿童贫困委员会报告指标的进展，并告诉我们他们是否正确。目前的列表是一个好的开始，但还没有一锤定音。”
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