BREAST IS BEST

As parents, our deepest instinct is a yearning for our children to thrive. We want our children to be healthy.

For most new parents, feeding can be a source of anxiety. Will I be able to breastfeed? Is my baby eating enough? Do I want to breastfeed? What is in my breastmilk?

Parents who are well educated about age and developmentally appropriate childhood nutrition can have a dramatic impact on their children’s health, well-being, and relationship with food.

When it comes to nutrition, the first 3 years of your child’s life are particularly important. This significant window can influence good eating habits, lifelong health, and even life span.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), with support from UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO), recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months, then breastfeeding in combination with solid foods through at least 12 months, and then continue for as long as mutually desired by mother and child.

When it comes to nutrition, the first 3 years of your child’s life are particularly important. This significant window can influence good eating habits, lifelong health, and even life span.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), with support from UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO), recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months, then breastfeeding in combination with solid foods through at least 12 months, and then continue for as long as mutually desired by mother and child.

During pregnancy, the beginning of the second trimester, as early as 16 weeks, your breasts are filled with milk-making glands called alveoli, where colostrum is made. Colostrum is a thick first milk, commonly known as “liquid gold” that gives your baby valuable nutrients in a very concentrated low-volume form that gives their vulnerable immune system a boost from the start.

Your milk then travels from the alveoli through milk ducts to the nipple opening, where your baby draws it out.

A few days after birth, colostrum changes to thinner, more plentiful mature milk, which then continues to produce until weaning.

Babies are born to breastfeed. The more often your baby breastfeeds, the more milk your breasts produce. Your milk is designed to meet your baby’s changing needs and is made specifically for your baby!

Human milk is very dynamic, made of thousands of bioactive molecules and provides virtually all the protein, sugar, and fat your baby needs to be healthy.

It also contains many substances that benefit your baby’s immune system, including antibodies, immune factors, enzymes, and white blood cells. These substances protect your baby against a wide variety of diseases and infections not only while your baby is breastfeeding but, in some cases, long after they have weaned.

Breast milk has the perfect combination of proteins, fats, vitamins, and carbohydrates.  Infant formulas on the market today are more so created to be a supplement and do not contain all the benefits of natural breast milk!

  • New research has revealed that specific nutrients in breastmilk may actually activate the genes responsible for enhancing and refining brain development contributing to your child’s IQ
  • Long-term effects on your child’s immune system, growth, body weight, strength and vulnerability to allergies.
  • Lower the risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome)
  • Prevent the development of type 1 diabetes
  • Protect against some cancers, especially Leukemia and Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
  • Reduce the chance of getting meningitis
  • Prevent gastroenteritis (especially in preemies)
  • Aid in visual development
  • Prevent eat infections
  • Diminish respiratory and urinary tract infections
  • Prevent high blood pressure later in life
  • Make obesity less likely

Breastmilk is the best way to avoid toxins and chemicals that are pervasive in our children’s food. Young children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of these chemicals. A child’s nutrition is most important, however, eating for a baby is also about emotion, connection, and creating memories.

  • The release of good hormones!
    • many mothers feel fulfillment and joy from the physical and emotional connection they experience with their child while nursing. These feelings are augmented by the release of hormones, such as:
      • prolactin:  produces a peaceful, nurturing sensation that allows you to relax and focus on your child
      • oxytocin:  promotes a strong sense of love and attachment between the two of you, decreasing stress levels
    • provides health benefits beyond emotional satisfaction
    • recovery from childbirth more quickly and easily, and can reduce postpartum bleeding
    • reduced rates of breast and ovarian and uterine cancer later in life
    • reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure and high cholesterol
    • helps to take off pregnancy weight as well as general weight loss

A good breastfeeding relationship takes time and is a learned experience for both you and your baby. I believe readiness is extremely important. Though some women ultimately are not able to breastfeed, many who think they cannot, actually are able to breastfeed. Lactation consultants are able to provide support to women learning and have goals to breastfeed.

I believe there are 4 important factors to successfully breastfeed your baby…

Confidence in the process of breastfeeding

Confidence in the ability to breastfeed

Commitment to making breastfeeding work despite obstacles

Good and EARLY support!

Spouse family, friends, and a knowledgeable/ encouraging lactation consultant!

References

American Academy of Pediatrics. Breastfeeding. American Academy of Pediatrics. https://www.aap.org/en-us/advocacy-and-policy/aap-health-initiative/breastfeeding/pages/default.aspx. Published 2020. Accessed April 27, 2020.

American Academy of Pediatrics. Policy Statement: Breastfeeding and the Use of Human Milk. Pediatrics. 2012: 128(3): e827-e841

World Health Organization. Breastfeeding and Family Friendly Policies: Advocacy Brief. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/publications-detail/WHO-NMH-NHD-19.23. Published July 26, 2019. Accessed April 27, 2020.

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The Cost of Not Breastfeeding. UNICEF. https://www.unicefusa.org/stories/cost-not-breastfeeding/36187. Published August 1, 2019. Accessed April 27, 2020.

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Nutrition and Breastfeeding. UNICEF. https://www.unicefusa.org/press/releases/improving-early-childhood-nutrition-can-save-lives-one-million-children-year/8149. Published July 29, 2015. Accessed April 27, 2020.