A comment on breast milk.

The original plan was this post to be about what factors to consider when using formula to feed your baby, but I feel that my last post was misunderstood by some and I would like to clarify some things.

I am sorry if my post about breastfeeding made you uncomfortable, it was never my intention to glorify breastfeeding, to make mothers that formula feed be uncomfortable of to imply that they are not good mothers. Each of the posts I write is more about data based on scientific studies than anything else, it is not about feelings, it is not about moral goodness, and I do my best for this to show through the blog. This is a blog about health and environment, and each post is aimed to those two topics.

I know how it goes when you have a new baby: your breasts are too big, the baby’s mouth too small, the nurse tells you it should not hurt, so you must be doing something wrong, which makes you feel terrible. Your baby is too sleepy and does not want to nurse, starts loosing weight (most likely because you had an IV, but most of the medical field still refuses to acknowledge this fact) and the nurse tells you to supplement.  You are sent home with some free formula “for you to supplement if you need to”, which you use because the nurses told you to, and then you have a very hard time reaching your full supply. Plus soon you hit the first growth spurt, your baby wants to feed all day, you are afraid you do not have enough milk, your nipples are in pain, you send your husband to pick up some more formula and then you really never achieve full production. Soon you have to go back to work and are so tired and still trying to breast feed the baby, but it is not working, so you just decide that bottle feeding is not that bad after all and that your baby will be fine.

And your baby will. This does not make you a bad mother at all! You do what you need to do to make things work for you and your family. Also, this does not mean that breast milk is not the best when it comes to nutrition, antibodies, osteoporosis, breast cancer, diabetes type 1 and environment. Those are just facts which have been published in scientific and medical journals. Those facts have nothing to do with feelings, with emotions and with making life work. And listing those facts so a future mother can decide what she wants to go for was my only intention when I wrote about breast milk being the best.

I had a very hard time when breast feeding my baby, and I might write about that some day so other struggling mothers realize that they are not alone and maybe I can share what I did to make it work. I know it is hard, and I know that had I chosen to bottle feed my baby when it seemed the only option I would not be a bad mother, just a mother making things work for the three of us.

Breastmilk: what could be more natural than that?

One of the many choices you are faced to when you are pregnant is what to feed your infant: formula of breast milk? And being informed to make that decision is fundamental. After reading some about it, you will probably come to the conclusion that breast milk is really the better choice under any category you want to analyze it.

Breast milk is the best for your baby’s health.

Breast milk has everything your baby needs, it contains the right proportion of fats, proteins and carbohydrates. In the same way that cow’s milk is just perfect for her calf, a mother’s milk is perfect for her baby. Formula companies have refined the recipe to a point that a formula fed baby is healthy enough, but formula is derived from cow’s milk or soy and does not have everything a baby needs, most importantly it does not have the antibodies that the mother transfers through her milk. Unlike formula, breast milk is never contaminated (except if the mother has a disease such as AIDS, but in most other diseases a mother can still breast feed) and it is not dangerous for the child. If the mother is sick, it is unlikely that the virus of bacteria will be transmitted through the milk, but the antibodies that she has generated will, protecting her child from becoming sick.

Research shows that breastfed babies have less chances of developing diabetes type 1, which is unrelated to diet and lifestyle (so detractors cannot attribute this to healthy habits that the mother teaches), also a reduced risk of SIDS, lower chances of orthodontics problems which are related to bottle feeding, a correct development of tongue and jaw muscles that leads to less speech problems as the child grows, and less chances of stomach ulcers as adults. And these are just some of the benefits!

Breast milk is the best for the mother’s health.

The longer a woman breast feeds along her life (for her different children) the less chances she has of developing breast cancer. A breast feeding mother will, contrary to what might be thought, have a higher bone density and be protected against osteoporosis, compared to a non breast feeding mother. Besides this, breast feeding and skin to skin contact both release “feel good” hormones which can help fight or avoid postpartum depression. Additionally, some hormones released while breast feeding fight stress, helping the mother to relax… and let’s face it, any new mother needs some relaxing times!

Breast milk is the best for the environment.

There is no manufacturing, no polluting techniques, no packaging to dispose of in the landfill. Need I say more?

Breast milk is the cheapest.

It’s free!! 😀 You do not have to go buy it, your body makes it. Yes, you need to eat to produce it, but you would be eating anyway. While breast milk takes about an extra 500 Kcal. to be made, there is no evidence supporting that you need to eat more to make it. Research shows that for milk production to be compromised, a woman has to be in starving conditions, so while I personally would not diet while breast feeding I see no problem with limiting your calorie intake. Plus think of all those calories being burned to produce milk as a way to manage your post pregnancy weight!

Breast milk is the most convenient.

Yes, I know, we’ve all heard about how awesome is that dad gives baby a bottle in the middle of the night. I call shenanigans on that! Let me tell you what: been there, done that… and I would breast feed for convenience any day! Breast milk is already made in you, it is at the right temperature and requires no cleaning. When Ignacio was bottle fed I remember having to get up in the middle of the night, get the formula out of the fridge, which I had prepared before going to bed, warm it up making sure it was not too hot for him, then in the morning clean all the bottles and nipples… added to everything else I was going through as a new mom, it was exhausting!

Also, need to go out? Your diaper bag is so simple to pack! No need to prepare bottles, nor put them in heat isolating bags, no need to clean afterwards. Your breast milk will be there for your baby at any time, as many times as you need! My diaper bag is one pocket in my purse in which I put the diapers and wipes. That’s about it, and I love it that way!

So, while ultimately it will be each mother’s decision what to feed her baby, and that will greatly depend on what works for her family (breast feeding long term can be challenging if you need to go back to work too soon!) it is important that every woman and her partner knows the facts about breast milk. There is heavy advertising by formula companies that aims to make people believe that it is the same (or even better! *shudders*) to give formula or breast milk to a baby. It is not. It is important that a mother is informed so she can make the right choice based on facts.

Do you have any insight you would like to share? Please, leave a comment, I would love to read!

Sources:

La Leche League International.

Breastfeeding Made Simple. 2010. Kendall-Tacket and Morbacher

Mayo Clinic.

American Academy of Pediatricians.