It’s Mother’s Milk that’s best… Don’t shortchange your infant!

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The breastfeeding of infants is getting the international recognition it deserves.  On 20 January 2011, the US Surgeon General issued a call to action; mothers should breastfeed their children for at least the first 6 months.  The directive mentioned that breastfeeding drops to 13% participation by the time the baby is six months old.  This, in spite of evidence that obesity, infections, and illnesses can be alleviated by a program of breast feeding.  Five days before that, WHO issued a similar call.  While the desire is for all children to be breastfed until 6 months of age, WHO expressed the desire for its continuance until the toddler is 2 years old.

Now, researchers under the direction of Dr. Duijts at Erasmus Hospital (Rotterdam) have prepared an article that demonstrates the preclusion of asthma as a result of breastfeeding.  The research surveyed the moms (and their 5368 children); the queries revolved about breastfeeding in general, when it was terminated, and if other milk/solids were part of the feeding.  In addition, follow-ups on the children up to age 4 were included.

In a nutshell, children who were not breastfed were between 1.4 and 1.5 times as likely to manifest wheezing or persistent phlegm (asthma symptoms).  [That means a 50% increase in asthma incidence!] If the children were fed solids or milk during the first four months of life, the manifestations of these symptoms, plus shortness of breath and dry cough were more prevalent.

There have been other studies that hinted at this link.  However, this paper clearly related the episodes of wheezing to the length of breastfeeding afforded the children, especially for the first two years of life.  The researchers also found a correlation between lower respiratory tract infections and breastfeeding.

It should be noted, however, that many children do outgrow asthma.  So, there needs to be further longitudinal studies relating persistent asthma to breastfeeding.  However, the fact that asthma during the first four years of life is clearly associated with failure to breastfeed, that many children succumb to asthma-related deaths, and the healthcare costs associated with this disease means that all mothers should take utmost care to provide for breastfeeding their children for at least the first six months of life.  It wouldn’t hurt to continue that practice until the child is 2 years of age.  Your baby deserves it!Roy A. Ackerman, Ph.D., E.A.

 

(If you are looking for more breastfeeding resources, you can find them here:  http://www.readysetsleep.com
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17 thoughts on “It’s Mother’s Milk that’s best… Don’t shortchange your infant!”

  1. Roy,

    Even though I totally agree w/ mothers breastfeeding …. I’m not totally convinced about it preventing many illnesses etc. From my experience my first wasn’t breastfeed longer and she is the healthiest of my two kids. While my 2nd and last kid was breastfed longer and still to this day has health issues.

    I’m so up in the air on all these scientific things that I don’t know what to believe and what not to believe anymore.

      1. Hm… maybe the health of the mother while breast-feeding determines the quality of the milk, which in turn determines the potential benefits the child will get?

        1. Pedro:
          The health of the mother is an issue, to some degree. It is more a function of the nutrition of the mom- she may need to add vitamin D to her diet, avoid certain foods, eat more balanced meals, etc.
          Antibiotics and chemotherapeutic agents would prove problematic to the infant- but they are special cases.
          Thanks for your comments- and dropping in. Loved your yawning article- that’s been an interest of mine for some time.
          Roy

  2. Hi Roy! I’ve always been an advocate of breastfeeding and I encourage any new mother I meet to do so. The ignorance of those who most people believe know best never ceases to amaze me. My stepdaughter just had a baby 3 weeks ago and she’s breastfeeding (she also breastfed her oldest daughter who is now 4). The baby’s pediatrician told her that she should feed the baby formula because of the vitamin D which breast milk lack and she added “that’s one way formula is better than breast milk”, can you believe that? Formula is NEVER, under any circumstance better than breast milk. If you want the baby to receive more vit D, let him take some sunrays everyday for 5-10 minutes, that’s more than a enough for a baby to get all the vitamin D that he/she needs.
    Thank you for this much needed post to spread the word about breastmilk!

    1. Thanks for the great additions to the post, Diana!
      Moreover, if the baby is lacking vitamin D (which is probably not true), there are better ways to give the baby the vitamin. 1- if the mother takes 60 ug of vitamin D daily, within two weeks, the levels the baby recieves are certainly adequate. And, 2, unless the baby lives in the Northern portion of the Hemisphere and it is winter, then the baby is probably NOT being shortchanged Vitamin D.
      Thanks for dropping in….
      Roy

  3. Although I believe breastfeeding may be better for babies, I don’t believe it always is and I don’t think anyone can generalize. There are some babies that are actually allergic to the mother’s breast milk (My son was one, even though my daughter had no problems). In this case, my son would have become undernourished if I didn’t make the switch to formula at 6 weeks. He’s now 16 and healthier than most. Not all mothers have a healthy diet and some smoke, drink alcohol, or are taking some form of medication. This all affects breast milk and the baby’s health. So, yes, in a perfect world, all mother’s should breast feed their babies. But unfortunately, we are not in a perfect world, so we have to be very careful when deciding what we say about what is best for others.

    Oh, and I should mention that I didn’t drink, smoke or take meds while nursing my son – it may have been something in my diet that didn’t agree with him. But he did thrive as soon as we made the switch to formula. It wasn’t what I would’ve chosen and felt very guilty at the time, which is why I think I have a special sensitivity to this topic. Sorry, Roy, you touched a nerve. But I don’t think studies can possibly cover all the variables on this subject to be able to make a blanket statement about what is best for all babies.

    Thanks for the post Roy, I hope you don’t mind my contrary comments, and I would love to hear your thoughts! It’s a tricky subject that in my opinion has become too black and white. I am grateful that we have an alternative to breast milk, because I honestly don’t know what would have become of my son without it.

    ~Suerae

    1. Suerae:
      You are absolutely right! There are always exceptions to every rule. And, you brought up a great example.
      i also mentioned to another commentator that breast cancer survivors are not good candidates for breast feeding, either.
      Thanks for rounding out the information!!!!
      Roy

  4. Can’t believe that (without special circumstances) Mother’s don’t make use of the wonderful natural resource which their body is designed to produce, and their baby is designed to consume.

    Authorities encouraging early abandonment of this process signals to me that they are out of touch with the essential realities of our biological make up. The outcome of that is that Mothers are confused, and children are suffering needlessly.

    Thanks for sharing your informed views on this Roy

    1. Jym:
      There are many issues here.
      One of the first is the “calorie companies” (to quote a term in a sci-fi book I am enjoying at the moment) who wish to sell foods (milk and milk solids). (This was a big headline issue in Africa a few years ago.)
      Second, is that many moms want to/need to work- and no one provides them training (or pumps) to enable them to offer this nutrition to their kids, in spite of this need/desire.
      Third, many moms have problems getting their kids to “latch on” properly- and lactation/nursing assistance is not covered by their health care provider.
      That still does not negate the sense of your comment- Mom’s need to provide the best nutrition for their kids- and they can, for free! (ok, there is a time commitment, but it’s a great bonding experience).
      Thanks for your comments!
      Roy

  5. I am glad that I choose to breastfeed my son. He has been very healthy. Except for when I worked outside the home and he had to attend daycare, then he was sick all the time. So, I guess it didn’t really keep him from getting sick, but I think it did help him in fighting off the illnesses and it never seemed like he got as sick as some of the other kids.

    1. Jen-
      You bring up an issue about kids and daycare. Too many moms and dads are more worried about their work schedule than the potential infection (when THEIR child is ill) of all the other little tykes. I remember taht from my kids’ infanthood and saw it with my grandson. (I commend my daughter and son-in-law for taking the financial hit and keeping baby home when he was ill.)
      You also chose the present tense in your first sentence… You may want to seek out a local ‘latch-on” that will occur this Saturday.
      Thanks for your comments, your visit, and your message to other readers.
      Roy

  6. Breast milk will always be the best for babies. That’s what I have learned ever since. And I have become aware of the law about breastfeeding your baby right after he/she was born until her/his sixth month or beyond when my sister gave birth to my beautiful nephew. 🙂 Feeding bottles were confiscated in hospitals if you were to bring them for the baby. And I believe, this is an absolutely perfect way to get the babies healthy. I support that law.

    1. Interesting law, Minerva!
      What do they do if the mom is a breast cancer survivor?
      I certainly support breast-feeding as a means to promote baby’s health and growth, not to mention the bonding that occurs. But, I also believe that mom’s should pump and fill a bottle so that the dad can feed the baby at least once a day. Not only so mom can get more than a 3 hour sleep segment, but to bond baby to daddy, too!
      Thanks for dropping in and commenting. I hope you do so again- and often!
      Roy

  7. It was a natural decision for me to nurse my children. But it wasn’t easy. My first had all sorts of challenges – one of which was an extreme sensitivity to dairy in my diet that took several weeks to identify and deal with. Had I not nursed though, he would have been even sicker on dairy-based formula. It was difficult but I’ve never regretted the decision to stick with it and work through that and other challenges that came up for us. I was blessed to have the support of several women who were LCs and they were so helpful. I wish every mother had access to LCs to support them. Went on to nurse the next two little ones and it got easier with each one. I’m thankful I was able to breastfeed them.

    1. Fantastic tell, Michelle…
      We need to offer our little ones every little advantage we can… And, this is even more critical for those areas where the price of food (and baby food/formulae are really expensive) is a problem.
      Thanks for adding to the reasons to breast feed.
      Roy

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