What is so good about breastfeeding?

[dannyboysmommy]

Taken from http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=245618677&blogID=342784418

 

Consider this about breast-feeding: It is estimated that four of every 1,000 infants die because they are not breast fed. At just a 1% American birth rate that computes to approximately 12,000 infant deaths a year. For simple calculating lets assume 10,000 deaths a year between 1950 and the year 2000. That computes to 500,000 infant deaths or over seven times the number of American lives that were lost in the Vietnam War simply due to the lack of breast-feeding. Where are the protesters?

Fewer than half of American babies are fed exclusively breast milk during their initial stay at the hospital. When the infants reach the age of six months only 19% receive breast milk and at the ripe old age of one year, only 2%. Now compare that with the global average of children being weaned from the breast at 4.2 years. The American Academy of Pediatrics now weighs in with this recommendation that for the baby's optimal health, a mother should breast-feed for at least a full year. The benefits of breast-feeding for mother and child are staggering. That list is long and ever-increasing.

A growing body of evidence now shows that DHA, which is a fatty acid, is the essential structural ingredient of breast milk. DHA is lacking in infant formula due to a ban by the FDA. The following is a quote from Dr. William C. Douglass on the subject of DHA:

Breast-fed babies have an IQ of six to 10 points higher than formula-fed babies. Scientists and nutritional experts attribute this to DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid that's an essential structural component of the brain and retina. It's found naturally in mother's milk. In case it will impress you, the World Health Organization and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations also endorse the addition of DHA to infant formula.

During the last trimester of a pregnancy is when the mother transfers to her baby much of the DHA needed for the development of his or her brain and nervous system. The DHA content of the mother's diet reflects in the amount of DHA passed on to the baby. If the baby is not breast-fed at all, it also receives no DHA after birth and is shortchanged in neurological development, thus impairing mental and visual acuity. DHA levels of premature infants are especially low, since they miss much of that last trimester and when born, haven't developed the sucking mechanism—so they are usually bottle-fed. It's a wonder they live at all, and it's a crime they aren't getting DHA in their bottle from birth.

The University of Rochester researched brain stem development in infants born prematurly. Seventeen of the infants were fed breast milk and 20 were fed formula. Commenting on the research Dr. S. Amin had this to report, "Our findings suggest that infants fed breast milk have faster brain stem maturation, compared with infants fed formula."

The Lancet reported on research conducted on 216 premature children by the Institute of Child Health of London. Their findings showed that children who were breast fed (now aged 13-16) had lower blood pressure than those who were formula fed.

According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, infants who were breast fed have superior eyesight to those who were not.

Breast fed children are 50% less likely to get an ear infection than those who are not. Science now knows that breast milk slows down the growth of harmful bacteria in the intestines. Breast milk inhibits the growth of bacteria in the lungs, mouth and nose as well.

Research shows that exclusive breast-feeding reduced respiratory infections for the infant's first four months of life. A 1998 study declares that children breast-fed for 6 months have shorter durations of respiratory illness such as pneumonia, colds and the flu.

I found the following excerpt in an article written by Dr. R. D. Russell especially exciting. It reads as follows:

The cells in the mother's milk not only attack bacteria that may be harmful to the baby, but apparently they have the ability to produce antibodies that destroy bacteria and viruses as well. Evidently the infant who is exposed to infections and nurses from its mother, also produces changes in the mother's breast. Within hours the next milk contains antibodies and immunoglobins to protect the baby before the infant exhibits visible symptoms.

An article in the publication called Mothering points out that mother's milk has 400 nutrients that cannot be duplicated in the lab. Research suggests that breast-feeding reduces the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, childhood cancer, diarrheal diseases, lower respiratory illness, ear infections, bacterial infections, diabetes, infant botulism, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis and cavities.

In May of 2001 the Journal of the American Medical Association cited two studies which report that breast-feeding not only boosts babies' immune systems and brain power but may also reduce the risk of being overweight. Harvard Medical School, in a study of 15,000 babies, found that newborns given formula were 20% more likely to be overweight in adolescence versus their breast-fed counterparts.

Imagine the following lead paragraph was found in an article in Discover Magazine titled "Got Cancer." It reads as follows:

When Cathatrina Svanborg and her research associates began mixing mothers' milk and cancer cells together seven years ago, she wasn't looking for a cure for cancer; she was after a way to fight germs. Nevertheless, the physician and immunologist at Lund University in Sweden has discovered that a previously taken-for-granted component of ordinary human breast milk compels cancer cells—every type of cancer cell tested—to die.

The American Academy of Pediatrics makes the following recommendations:

Human milk is the preferred feeding for virtually all infants, including premature and sick newborns.
Breast-feeding should begin as soon as possible after birth, usually within the first hour.
Newborns should be nursed whenever they show signs of hunger—increased alertness or activity, mouthing or rooting.
No supplements (water, glucose water, formula, etc.) should be given to breast-feeding newborns unless for medical reasons. Pacifiers should be avoided.
Breast-feeding provides ideal nutrition. It is all an infant needs for optimal growth and development for the first six months.
Breast-feeding also delivers mighty benefits to the mother. Nursing moms show a reduced risk of premenopausal breast cancer, ovarian cancer and osteoporosis.

Web MD reviewed research that was recently presented to a Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting. It is now known that women who breast-feed, after they're done lactating, have stronger bones and demonstrate lower incidence of osteoporosis than amongst non-breast-feeders and the same results were posted in teenage mothers.

Reports of the benefits of breast-feeding keep pouring in. It is safe to say that science will never recognize all of the benefits.

[HelenGartner]

Dec. 31, 2007 at 12:45 AM

Amen to that!!! my boy is a boobie baby all the way! 7 months old and still nursin'

while some women cannot nurse their babies for whatever reason i thank the Lord every day that i can!!!

[josmama]

Dec. 31, 2007 at 12:46 AM thats why my daughter is a breast fed baby

[jajamama]

Dec. 31, 2007 at 8:13 AM i cant nurse at  all when my son was first born i made about an ounce of milk a day so i would pump that and add it to his formula nothign workedi  pyumped for hours had a lactation consultant come in every day i was in the hospital still only an ounce a day but he didnt get sick once while he had that little bit of milk but about 4 months after i finaly dired up he is constantly at the pedi for one thing or another all involving his upper respitory system when i have my next one i hope i can brest feed them