Breastfeeding Article

The following article was written by Kym, a mom on another blog site I am on. I think her research speaks for itself. Please take the time to read!



I'm a strong advocate for breastfeeding. Before Andrew was conceived (before I even got married actually), I knew that one day I'd have children and I would breastfeed them. I had heard stories of women breastfeeding babies for 3, 4 and 5 years and honestly, it never struck me as odd. But what I didn't understand is why were the women who choose to do so ostracized and attacked. I knew that breastfeeding was way better than formula....they can't even be compared. It wasn't until I became pregnant with Andrew that I started doing my research and realized how beneficial it really was, and not just for the first six weeks, three months, six months...but it continued to be beneficial as long as breastfeeding was continued.

The American Academy of Pediatrics currently recommends that "Breastfeeding should be continued for at least the first year of life and beyond for as long as mutually desired by mother and child.." (AAP) The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF recommend that babies be breastfed for at least two years. According to the WHO, the average age for a child to wean, worldwide, is 4 years and 8 months. (WHO - Breastfeeding, UNICEF-Breastfeeding)

That is definitely NOT in line with how we do things in America. From the time our children are born, we want them independent and growing up. Most children are separated from their mothers soon after birth because they are put in a nursery at the hospital. Upon coming home, babies are put on a strict schedule, only eating every three hours. Breastfeeding is something for babies and in order for our children to be independent, they are usually weaned soon after birth for several reasons: so mom can return to work and not have to concentrate on pumping to keep her supply up, to go ahead and let our baby learn to not be comforted by food, etc. I could put in a jab at "BabyWise" here but I'll refrain. But is this line of thought and this trend hurting our society?

In countries where babies sleep with their parents, breastfeed for several years and spend their baby, toddler and early childhood years with their parents, babies are found to cry less, sleep better and gain weight better, as well as having LESS weight problems when they are older. They also have less behavior problems, issues such as ADD is uncommon and in general, children are MORE independent and self-suffient. Diseases such as breast and ovarian cancers aren't common among mothers. For more information about this, check out the book "Our Babies, Ourselves: How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Parent" by Meredith Small. (You can go to the La Leche League website for a review of the book.)

This research is starting to be more understood in America as well: The American Cancer Society has now begun to encourage women to breastfeed longer than the average 3-6 months to decrease their risk of breast cancer. Every year of breastfeeding reduces your risk by several percentage points. Studies also indicate that breastfeeding can aid in reducing the risk of ovarian cancer as well. (American Cancer Society article).

But what about the benefits of breastmilk for children? We know that for babies, breastmilk is, by all definitions, perfect nutrition. Breastmilk provides immunities, as well as valuable vitamins and fats. Studies done in the 1970's and 1980's show that breastmilk CONTINUES to be the perfect addition to a healthy diet.

"Research has shown that second-year milk is very similar to the first-year milk nutritionally (Victora, 1984). Even after two years or more it continues to be a valuable source of protein, fat, calcium, and vitamins (Jelliffe and Jelliffe, 1978).

The immunities in breast milk have been shown to increase in concentration as the baby gets older and nurses less, so older babies still receive lots of immune factors (Goldman et al, 1983). A study from Bangladesh provides a dramatic demonstration of the effect these immunities can have. In this deprived environment, it was found that weaning children eighteen to thirty-six months old doubled their risk of death (Briend et al, 1988). This effect was attributed mostly to breast milk's immune factors, although nutrition was probably important as well. Of course in developed countries weaning is not a matter or life and death, but continued breastfeeding may mean fewer trips to the doctor's office." (Nursing Beyond One Year)

Research also indicates that humans were created to NEED breastmilk for several years to thrive.

"Our past has produced an organism that relies on breastfeeding to provide the context for physical, cognitive, and emotional development. The human primate data suggest that human children are designed to receive all of the benefits of breast milk and breastfeeding for an absolute minimum of two and a half years, and an apparent upper limit of around 7 years. Natural selection has favored those infants with a strong, genetically coded blueprint that programs them to expect nursing to continue for a number of years after birth and results in the urge to suckle remaining strong for this entire period. Many societies today are able to meet a child's nutritional needs with modified adult foods after the age of three or four years. Western, industrialized societies can compensate for some (but not all) of the immunological benefits of breastfeeding with antibiotics, vaccines and improved sanitation. But the physical, cognitive, and emotional needs of the young child persist. Health care professionals, parents, and the general public should be made aware that somewhere between three and seven years may be a reasonable and appropriate age of weaning for humans, however uncommon it may be in the United States to nurse an infant through toddlerhood and beyond. (A Time To Wean)

(Of course, while these are mostly health benefits, there are many more! Emotional, mental and personal benefits, articles discussing these can be found on the websites listed at the bottom.)

The thing to realize is that the nursing relationship is a very personal relationship between mother and child. As long as the child continues to benefit from nursing, so shall the mother and breastfeeding should be allowed to be continued. Unfortunately in our Western culture, breastfeeding is seen as immodest, weird/gross and something for "babies". There have to be laws in place to protect a mother's right to breastfeed. That is truly a sad statement about our culture. Human milk truly is the best thing you can feed your child. The nutritional values do not disappear because the child turns one.

I have planned on nursing Andrew until he decides to stop nursing. I really could care less about an "appropriate" age to stop nursing a child that falls in line with the "American" way of parenting. The fact of the matter is, breastfeeding remains beneficial to both the baby AND mother as long as the nursing relationship continues. It's the way God designed us!

Other resources:
La Leche League International

Kellymom

Dr. Jack Newman

ProMom