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Breast Milk is a ‘Superfood’
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Introduction To Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding is quite simply Best. It’s best for baby, it is best for mother and best for the environment. many of the problems women in the west have with breastfeeding are the result of a poor culture of breastfeeding. Because the tradition of breastfeeding has been broken by the food companies trying to enlarge profits and by the medical profession trying to gain control and medicalize childbirth and child rearing much of the support that new mothers had from mothers, grandmothers, aunts and sisters has vanished. Fortunately in Holland along with the drive to encourage Home Births has come a drive to develop and foster breastfeeding, and so slowly the tradition is being rebuilt. I was very lucky, my mother breast fed all of her children and was on hand to show, encourage and support me. Before the birth of my first child she taught me how to massage my breasts, how make up lotions and balms and how to care properly for my nipples. She showed me all the tips and tricks to get baby to latch on correctly, but most of all she taught me how to relax and enjoy the bonding and joyful pleasure of feeding your own precious flesh and blood. Now three breast fed babies later I show other mothers to be the things my mother taught me.
In many countries the religious taboos around touching one’s own body appear to have extended to passing on lessons about perfectly natural bodily processes. I suspect this stems from the desire by male dominated institutions such as church and medicine to oppress, suppress and control female sexuality, but it is time we re-asserted our rights and took back control of our selves and our reproductive rights.
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The Breastfeeding Benefits For Mothers
Breastfeeding is good for mothers, too! Not only that, but it is a joyful, relaxing experience. Although breastfeeding advocates have been criticized for oversimplifying and not informing mothers of potential problems of breastfeeding, the truth of the matter is that when practiced optimally breastfeeding is an enjoyable experience, pure and simple. We must remember that many of the problems and inconveniences so commonly described in the lay literature and passed around by word of mouth as "horror stories" are due to the fact that we live in a bottle-feeding society, with little family or social support and little understanding of breastfeeding by many health care professionals. Thus, problems such as "insufficient milk syndrome," engorgement, cracked and bleeding nipples, all of which would be rare in a breastfeeding society, have become commonplace. Immediately after birth, repeated bursts of oxytocin released in response to the baby's sucking cause contraction of the uterus. This protects mothers from postpartum hemorrhage (bottle-feeding mothers get oxytocin intravenously immediately after birth, but for the next 24-48 hours during which risk of hemorrhage is highest, they're on their own). Continued exclusive nursing (i.e., breastfeeding without added bottles of formula or solids) tends to delay the return of ovulation and menstruation. In fact, the lactational amenorrhea method (LAM) is a well-studied method of child spacing which is 99% effective in preventing pregnancy in the first six months as long as exclusive nursing is practiced.
Breastfeeding is a more effective method of birth control, world-wide, than all other methods combined -- without taxing the household's financial resources or endangering a woman's health. Mothers who breastfeed exclusively (that is, frequently, on demand, including during the night, and with no supplementation) generally enjoy a significant period of natural birth control. Lactation-induced infertility serves to increase the spacing between births. This is important since children born less than two years apart are almost twice as likely to die as those born more than two years apart.
Another well-documented benefit of breastfeeding is more rapid and sustained weight loss. Milk production uses up 200-500 calories a day. To burn off an equivalent number of calories, a bottle-feeding mother would need to swim 30 laps or ride a bicycle for over an hour. In our opinion, breastfeeding is definitely easier! Mothers who have had gestational diabetes benefit particularly from the efficient use of calories during breastfeeding, since a return to optimal weight may prevent subsequent development of diabetes. Furthermore, diabetic mothers who breastfeed tend to need less insulin or medication for their diabetes.
The prolonged suppression of ovulatory cycles appears to be associated with significant long-term health advantages as well. Mothers who breastfeed for at least 6 months throughout their lifetime have a decreased risk of breast cancer, and similar reduced rates have been shown for ovarian and uterine cancers. Even being breastfed has been associated with decreased risk of breast cancer, over and above the fact that women who were breastfed themselves are more likely to breastfeed their own children.
For some time, there was concern about calcium loss during lactation and potential for osteoporosis. In fact, some literature actually lists breastfeeding as a risk factor for osteoporosis. Current medical literature demonstrates that not only is the loss in bone density during breastfeeding temporary, reverting to normal after weaning, but that bones may actually be stronger after prolonged breastfeeding. Far from a risk factor for osteoporosis, breastfeeding may actually protect against it.
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The Benefits Of Breastfeeding For Baby
Human milk, the best food for babies, contains the right amount of nutrients, in the right proportions, for the growing baby. A living, biological fluid, it contains many unique components. For example, lactoferrin provides optimal absorption of iron and protects the gut from harmful bacteria; lipases assist in digestion of fats; and special growth factors and hormones contribute to optimal growth and development. Mother's own milk changes during a feeding from thirst-quenching to hunger-satisfying, and comes in a variety of flavors as mother's diet varies. Its composition changes as the baby grows to meet baby's changing nutritional needs. It serves as the nutritional model for artificial baby milks, but none of these can match it.
Human milk is baby's first immunization. It provides antibodies which protect baby from many common respiratory and intestinal diseases, and also contains living immune cells. First milk, colostrum, is packed with components which increase immunity and protect the newborn's intestines. Artificially fed babies have higher rates of middle ear infections, pneumonia, and cases of gastroenteritis (stomach flu). Breastfeeding as an infant also provides protection from developing immune system cancers such as lymphoma, bowel diseases such as Crohn's disease and celiac sprue, and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, all of which are related to immune system function. And breastfed babies generally mount a more effective response to childhood immunizations. In all these cases, benefits begin immediately, and increase with increasing duration of breastfeeding.
Babies from families with a tendency to allergic diseases particularly benefit from breastfeeding. Exclusive breastfeeding, especially if it continues for at least six months, provides protection against allergies, asthma, and eczema.
Infant Growth and Development
New growth charts from the World Health Organization confirm that breastfed infants grow differently from formula fed babies. Breastfed infants grow faster initially, then slow down as they approach their first birthday.(This can sometimes be interpreted as "dropping off the growth curve," but really represents normal growth.) People artificially fed as infants go on to have a higher risk of obesity as adults.
More and more research is showing that breastfeeding leads to optimal brain development. While there are behavioral aspects to this, the milk is important, too. One study of premature babies who were tube-fed breast milk or artificial milk, but were never breastfed directly, showed that the babies who received no breast milk had IQS 8 points lower on average than those who received breast milk. Human milk has special ingredients like DHA (docosohexaenoic acid) and AA (arachidonic acid) which contribute to brain and retinal development. And all breastfed babies tend to spend a lot of their time in the "quiet alert" state which is most conducive to learning.
The Benefits Of Breastfeeding For The Environment
Breast vs. formula - Breastmilk is one of the few foodstuffs produced and delivered to the consumer without any pollution, unnecessary packaging or waste, whereas the production, shipping, and preparation of formula and bottles requires large amounts of water, fuel, glass, plastic and rubber -- and produces significant amounts of garbage.
Dairy milk production destroys land and pollutes air and water and is not very good for baby. Substituting cow's milk which is the primary ingredient in infant formula for breastmilk destroys the water, land and air. Cow manure and urine pollute rivers and ground water, while nitrate fertilizers used to grow feed for dairy cows leach into rivers and water. Cow flatulence releases methane into the atmosphere and is a major contributing factor to the destruction of the ozone layer. It would take 135 million lactating cows just to substitute the breastmilk of the women of India; that many cows would require 43% of the surface of India be devoted to pasture. Land used for pastures often comes from clearing forests, a practice that erodes and depletes the soil. If every child in Europe were bottle-fed, almost 70,000 tonnes of tin would be needed to produce 490 million cans for one year's worth of formula. But the formula is not the only problem. Bottles and nipples require plastic, glass, rubber, and silicon; production of these materials can be resource-intensive and often leads to end-products that are not-recyclable. All these products use natural resources, cause pollution in their manufacture and distribution, and create trash in their packaging, promotion, and disposal.
Women who practice total, unrestricted breastfeeding average over 14 months without menstruating. It is a little understood fact that modern women menstruate for more than evolution designed us to and this has a health impact on our bodies. Breastmilk is absorbed by babies more efficiently; breastfed babies excrete less and thus require fewer diaper changes than formula-fed babies. Manufacturing the additional diapers, menstrual pads, and tampons involves the need for fibers, bleaching and other chemical processes, packaging materials, and fuels.
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