Breastfeeding Is The Best Option For Babies
Question: I will be a first-time mother very soon. I have been debating about whether I should feed our baby with formula or nurse. My family doctor has suggested that I should consider nursing, and gave me some information about the benefits of breast feeding. My family, however, felt that nursing is old-fashioned. Can you give me some suggestions?
Answer:
It is too bad that your family feels that nursing baby is old-fashioned. It is true that for many years, people have misunderstood and thought that infant formula is better than breast milk. However, this attitude is changing. More and more “modern women” have chosen breast feeding over infant formula.
Nature has allowed women to nurse their babies ever since the first human baby was born on earth. Human breast milk, naturally, is engineered and manufactured for our babies. It has all the ingredients that are important for the growth and development of our babies. There is no need to add anything to breast feeding for the first 4 to 6 months of an infant’s life.
Because breast milk is made for our babies, it is easily digested. Many women who decide to give their infants formula have experienced problems, and have to change the formula to find one that would suit their babies. This type of problem doesn’t happen to breast feeding.
Because breast milk is so easily digested, nursing babies tend to feed more often than bottle-fed babies. Occasionally, when babies go through a fast-growing period and require frequent nursing, their mothers may mistakenly think they don’t have enough milk, or their milk is not nutritious enough. This is definitely not true. Almost all women can produce enough milk for their babies.
The amount of milk that the breasts produce does not depend on the size of the breasts at all. Women’s breasts are not storage tanks. Most of the breast milk is actually being produced while the baby is nursing. Of course, some milk is stored in the breasts to start nursing. However, the milk being produced in the later part of nursing, called “hind milk,” contains most of the fat and protein that are important for the growth and development of the baby.
It is important to know that nursing mothers need to take good care of themselves when they are nursing. This includes plenty of rest and good nutrition. Frequently, I have seen nursing women develop problems because they got too busy at home. This is especially true around Christmas seasons, when they tried to do all the shopping, decoration, baking, etc. and forgot about their rest.
Some women find breast feeding particularly attractive because they don’t have to warm up the formula or sterilize bottles. Breast milk is always available, day or night. Of course you have to work out the logistic of nursing your baby outside of home. Many shopping centres provide mother-friendly nursing areas. If your town’s shopping centres don’t have these facilities, you can be pro-active and write to the managers. Some women decide to nurse their babies in their car.
In addition to nutrition, breast milk contains lots of antibodies that help babies fight infections. This is because women’s breasts contain large number of “immune cells” that produce these antibodies. When mothers get a cold, for example, these immune cells respond very quickly to produce antibodies and pass them onto their nursing babies through breast milk. Many women have remarked to me that even though they got quite sick, their nursing babies didn’t get nearly as sick. This is the magic of breast milk!
Some infant formula companies try to promote their formula by emphasizing the amount of iron in their products. The truth is that breast milk has the kind of iron that is easily digested, absorbed, and used by babies. The iron in infant formula, however, is not easily absorbed. Many babies actually develop problems like colic, constipation, or diarrhea from the iron in infant formula.
I should mention here that nursing can also benefit the mother. Some research has shown that breast feeding can reduce breast cancer and a number of other medical ailments in women. Many nursing mothers also feel that they can regain their pre-pregnancy figure faster.
There are very few situations where breast feeding is not recommended. If a woman is infected with HIV (the virus that causes AIDS), breast feeding can spread the virus to the baby. If a woman is on cancer treatment, the drugs can harm the baby through breast milk. Other medications can also pass through breast milk, but the quantity is usually too small to affect the infants. The best approach is to ask your doctor.
For those women who cannot nurse their babies for one reason or another, infant formula is generally safe, given our clean water supply. However, this does not mean that there is no problem with infant formula. As a paediatrician, I have seen far more consultations due to problems related to infant formula than to breast milk. Most commercial infant formulas are made from cows’ milk. Unfortunately, cows’ milk is really manufactured for calves, not for our babies.
Formula companies have modified cows’ milk continuously so that from time to time, they would come out with “improved formula,” or “formula closer to breast milk.” The fact is, unless genetic engineering can progress to the point of making cows produce human milk directly, infant formula will never be as good as mother’s milk. Scientists can keep trying, but mothers’ milk is always better.
You may also want to know that cows’ milk is the most common cause of allergies in human. In infants, this can show up as excessive spitting, colic, diarrhea, sneezing, coughing, and skin rash (eczema). When this happens, there is very little choice except changing to a formula without cows’ milk, or a partially digested cows’ milk formula.
How long should a woman nurse? The Canadian Paediatric Society and American Academy of Paediatrics, the two organizations representing most paediatricians in North America, recommend that if possible, nursing should continue until the child is two year old. This does not mean that if you cannot nurse that long, you should not consider nursing. Even if you have to get back to work, try to nurse as long as you can. Some employers will even make allowance for nursing women.
Given the above information, I hope you can make an informed decision to benefit your child and yourself.