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breastfeeding health, breast feeding intelligence, breast feeding asthma, infant intelligence, dha breast vision, dha breast intelligence, vitamin lady writes about breast feeding, breastfeeding
BREASTFEEDING
-
Its importance for Mother and Child by Lynn Hinderliter CN, LDN
Thank goodness we are emerging from the
darkest of the dark ages on this subject now, but even so it seems to me that
some young mothers are still not adequately informed about the benefits of
feeding their baby the way nature intended. In the alternative health field, one
of the saddest things we see is the steady stream of babies and young children
who are not enjoying the glowing health that is natural at that age. They have
asthma, and ear infections, and allergies, and behavioral problems, to name but
a few.
Even by the year 2000, when breastfeeding was once
again subtly on the increase:
Only 64% of US
women even attempted to breastfeed their babies
At 6 months, a mere 29% were still
breast-feeding
Rates were especially low among poor
women, and among African Americans (only 19% still breast-feeding
at 6 months)
It is strange to look back and try to determine
how women were dissuaded from doing something so uniquely feminine, and so
uniquely motherly: nothing else can bring about the same level of bonding
between mother and infant as the act of breast-feeding, and nothing else
reinforces a woman's sense of being an irreplaceable mother as much as having
this tiny creature dependent on her for its very life. While I have come
across many women who regret that they didn't breast feed, I have never come
across a woman who was sorry she did! These, however, are emotional
arguments, and nowadays we have far more impressive facts to support this
decision.
In 2007, Nestle made it known that they will market a formula
with breast milk oligosaccharides. Immediately, those Mothers who are less
than dedicated to the concept of breast-feeding their babies are asking for
"the formula like breast milk". While it is obviously good that
available formulas should be the best possible, it is also impossible for them
to be the same as breast milk. Here is an excellent analysis of the
situation, at The
MotherWear breast-feeding blog (http://breastfeeding.blog.motherwear.com/2007/01/using_human_mil.html).
I have come across some rather specious suggestions that
because of the chemicals in the environment, breast-feeding may be a danger for
the baby. Here
is an article posted at the Canadian Women's Network (http://www.cwhn.ca/network-reseau/7-1/7-1pg2.html), which
addresses that question very thoroughly.
If an animal is orphaned, it can often thrive on
the milk of another species: but almost all animals are full grown by the time
they are one or two years old. The level and kind of proteins required to bring
about this rapid growth are unprecedented in food sources. Human beings, on the
other hand, do not reach maturity for 18 to 20 years, and therefore the food
they require in infancy is far different. Equally, we know from hard experience
that, formulate infant foods as we may, new research is always turning up
proving that some new nutrient essential to the health of baby (naturally
already present in mother's milk) needs to be added to infant formulas.
The use of soy for infant formulas is truly
questionable: we have always known of the possibility of allergies, but
now there is also the fear that the isoflavones in the soy may
affect hormonal development in children.
As a side note to that, I recall when I first arrived in the United
States (I am British by birth) being amazed at the number of children wearing
glasses. Even now, many more children here, and ever younger ones, seem to be
prescribed glasses than overseas. I realize to a certain extent there may be
other factors at play, but recently formula manufacturers came to the conclusion
they should probably put DHA (all together, now: naturally present in
breast milk) in their formulas - and guess what? This is a nutrient
essential for the healthy development of the eye. There are also figures coming
out that suggest breast fed babies have higher intelligence levels than formula
fed - and DHA is also necessary for mental function. Formula- faint but pursuing
yet again!
DHA is one of the two "featured" fatty acids in Fish Oil, and
it seems that being low in these oils is not only harmful to the baby in the
ways mentioned above, but also cause an increase in pre-term births.
(BMJ 2002;324:447-450) Analysis
showed that among women who never ate fish the occurrence of preterm
delivery was 7.1%, while for women who ate fish at least once a week the
occurrence of preterm delivery was only 1.9%.
Studies published in 2004 make a connection between eating
oily fish during pregnancy, and lower rates of asthma (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/index.php?newsid=8689). This would tend
to suggest a protective effect from EPA and DHA. Fish STICKS, on the other
hand, fried in Omega 6 oils, had a negative effect, causing MORE asthma in the
children.
An infant's digestive system is unable to handle
with complete success, anything but the one substance it was designed to
receive. Anything else, the body does not process correctly, and the immature
system is damaged, some would say permanently. The most unfortunate result is
that large protein molecules from the unacceptable diet, which the child cannot
break down properly, penetrate the gut and are challenged as enemies by the
body. Many of the current childhood problems can be traced without any question
to so-called leaky-gut syndrome, and the allergies/food intolerances
which result. It is unfortunate, but all too often these childhood problems are
treated with antibiotics, further damaging the development of a proper digestive
system by killing the friendly bacteria needed to absorb many nutrients,
and before a desperate mother knows what's happening she is off on an unending
round of doctor's visit after visit.
For many mothers it is too late now to go back
and change the past: but if your child fits the health pattern described above,
you can help by determining whether an allergy is at the bottom of the problem,
replacing the probiotics needed for digestive health, and sometimes also by
using a mild digestive enzyme to help the body's natural process. I would also
consider using a Colostrum supplement, particularly if immune failures,
such as recurrent ear infections, are a problem. If you are pregnant at
the moment, strongly consider nursing your child: the benefits do not end with
the baby's health; you will return to your pre-pregnancy weight faster, many
women say their breasts stay more shapely, and there are some studies which
suggest long-term protection against cancer of the breast for mothers who nurse
their baby's first year. La Leche League, listed in most local phone
books, is invaluable for both advice and support.
I am appending a recent study which gives yet another
good reason to breast feed:
WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) Nov 20 - Results of
a study of more than 5000
Brazilian schoolchildren indicate that many breastfed children are less likely
than
others to have asthma or wheezing disorders.
Reporting in the October issue of the Journal of Asthma, Dr. Isabelle Romieu, of
the Instituto Nacional de Salud Publica, Morelos, Mexico, and colleagues
elsewhere note that they sought to examine the association between breastfeeding
and chronic respiratory disorders in children.
The researchers examined questionnaires completed by 5182 Brazilian
schoolchildren (ages 7 to 14) and their parents. Of these, 4.6% reported
medically
diagnosed asthma and 11.9% reported current wheeze.
A total of 90% of the children had been breastfed, and after adjusting for
confounders, the researchers found that children who had not been breastfed were
1.51 times more likely to have an asthma diagnosis, 1.29 times more likely to
experience current wheeze and 1.51 times more likely to have wheeze after
exercise
than those who had been breastfed for at least six months.
However, this protective effect was observed "only among children with no
family
history of asthma," and, say the investigators, "we did not observe a
dose-response
relationship with duration of breastfeeding."
The researchers call for further studies, but the low prevalence of asthma and
wheezing seen in the studied population, they conclude, "may be partly
related to
the high level of breastfeeding."
J Asthma 2000;37:575-583.
Keywords:
breastfeeding health, breast feeding intelligence, breast feeding
asthma, infant intelligence, dha breast vision, dha breast intelligence,
the vitamin lady writes about breast feeding
La
Leche League International at http://www.lalecheleague.org/
A
website to help clothe Preemies born ill or in need http://danettesangels.tripod.com/home.html
How
to make your own baby formulas, or improve the commercial ones. http://www.mercola.com/2000/oct/22/infant_formula.htm
The
American Dietetic Association's position paper on breast-feeding.
http://www.adajournal.org/scripts/om.dll/serve?action=searchDB&searchDBfor=art&artType=full&id=as0002822305003299
Dispelling
some common myths about Breastfeeding
http://www.health24.com/child/Breastfeeding/833-850,13598.asp
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