I recently attended a breastfeeding class with expectant mothers as part of my doula training. My role is not only to support the mother and her partner during labor, but to assist with breastfeeding after the delivery if necessary. More and more modern women are choosing to breastfeed not only to bond with their babies but to give their babies lifelong health benefits.
When a baby is born and begins to feed, colostrum is secreted in the mother’s milk for the first 6 hours. Through this vital substance, rich in antibodies and vitamins, the mother passes on passive immunity to the baby and builds the immunological response. Specifically designed for a growing baby, breast milk is rich in fats, carbohydrates, proteins and endless nutrients. According to professor J. Bruce German, the type of milk fat globules in breast milk allow the baby to produce more subcutaneous fat (exterior skin) than visceral fat (surrounding organs), which is linked to heart disease and diabetes. He further details that breast milk sugars can prevent harmful strains of bacteria from invading the gut and his colleague has shown that another sugar prevents the transmission of HIV from the breast milk of infected mothers to their babies.
Breast milk has also been proven to prevent respiratory illnesses, Herpes, multiple sclerosis, inguinal hernia and eczema. Children who were breast fed also tested with higher on cognitive and social development tests. But, what about the part of the population that wasn’t breast fed? Scientists are now finding ways to use breast milk to treat gastrointestinal distress and respiratory illness in adults. There was even a study that proved that colostrum had a therapeutic use for Alzheimer’s Disease.
Professor German states that he is embarrassed about how little we know about breast milk and I agree. And, although all of these studies are necessary and beneficial, I think the best evidence is that women have been doing it for thousands of years. After all, mother knows breast.
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Nice article, I breast t fed my daughter for 4 yrs. I wish all mothers would commit to a least 1 yr.
i wasn’t breast fed and i’m glad i wasn’t its disgusting and i have no respiratory illness’s ,
its just different types of luck that get you an illness or bad eating habits e.t.c.
its not from not breast feeding your child.
some women don’t have enough milk in their breasts after having a few kids.
Darcy – I’m sorry to be the one to remove the blissful state of ignorance you seem to be in, but the only thing disgusting about breastfeeding is the misconceptions that seem to still exist about it.
If you’d bother to peruse the scads of scientific facts that are freely available these days on the Net and in libraries near and far, you’d discover that breastmilk has been proven to prevent a variety of health problems, for both child and mother. Knowledge is truly power, and in this case, this knowledge can prevent many babies around the world from unnecessary illness and do so for free! I invite you to learn all the facts, here’s a comprehensive link to get started with.
Lactation is a complex subject, and while I can appreciate that you are not well-read on the subject, please allow me to correct another error you have made. Lactation works on a demand & supply method. The milk does not simply dry up or go bad, it is continuously being produced as long as the mammary glands are being prompted to do their job. So, no – after having multiple children and successfully breastfeeding them, the milk won’t disappear – on the contrary, the mother will be a professional nurser, her milk supply will be more than adequate as long as the baby is latching on well or she is pumping regularly. Another link here.
It’s a shame you weren’t breastfed – did you know that statistically breastfed babies grow up to have higher IQ’s than their formula-fed counter-parts? Oh wait, it’s all clicking now…. ;-)
Wow, Darcy, just wow. How can something so natural be disgusting? I suggest you do some reading on a subject before you leave comments willy-nilly on websites. It would do you and any children/future children you might have a world of good.
The trouble is, while many women successfully breastfeed, militants in the breastfeeding movement have infested the mainstream and busily subject women who just can’t breastfeed successfully to EXTREME EMOTIONAL BULLYING, making them feel worthless and terrible. Many of these frickin’ nazis self-deludedly see themselves as ‘pro natural health’ when they are just nasty religious zealots.
Even in ‘normal’ women, the milk takes 3-5 days (or more) to come in. In many cultures ‘folk formulas’, wet nurses, or just a little water is used to ease this passage to milk flow. The idea that babies can be safely starved for several days exhausting themselves and their mothers with hysterical cries as extreme hunger sets in is an EVIL MYTH.
Thousands of women are sent home from hospitals only to be readmitted and made to feel like evil bitches for letting their babies go hungry when they were told (lied to?) that all they needed was breast milk! The emotional onslaught is disgusting.
Yes, breast is best, but DO TOP UP A STARVING BABY WITH formula, sterile water, folk remedies and if you end up not being able to breast feed at all and using formula 100% of the time DON’T FEEL THE GUILT the breastfeeding fascists want you to feel. My partner was a bottle baby and is far more naturally healthy than me and has exceptional intelligence.
My partner was a bottle baby and is far more naturally healthy than me and has exceptional intelligence. Just think how much smarter your partner would be if your partner was BF.
Breastmilk is like an oilwell, The benefits never stop. You get your most benefits the first week, that is the most important week of all the weeks you BF. The first month is the most important month regardless of how many months you feed, and the first year is the most important year. Sure the benefits are the greatest the earliest, but they never run out. And yes individuals can turn out health and smart if they are bottle-fed, but when you look at the populations as a whole, the most people get the most benefit when they do BF.
Another comparison: Not every smoker gets lung cancer or a heart attack, but it sure makes your risk not in your favor.
Final word: There are no advantages to breastfeeding. That is the natural process that is designed by thousands of years of human evolution (or creation depending on your view). There are disadvantages to using substitues for breastmilk.