Kids!
MARCH 23, 2012 CONTINUED FROM THE PREVIOUS PAGE
when things are going well can be incredibly valuable.” Having a private consultation with a lactation expert can help prevent small issues from becoming bigger ones. “When breastfeeding is off to a good start, there shouldn’t be any pain or anxiety when anticipating breastfeeding,” Charpentier said. “If you find that’s what’s going on, it would probably be helpful to talk to somebody. Basically, any mother who has pain while nursing, a baby who is not gaining well or a baby with some kind of sucking or swallowing problem,” can benefit from a consultation, said Charpentier. “It’s not just pain. It’s anything that’s preventing you or your child from having that relationship.” A lost tradition Even mothers who are enthusiastic about breastfeeding are likely to be on the receiving end of misguided information that can affect how successful they are at breastfeeding and how long they continue with it. Many of today’s mothers belong to the first generation of women in their family to breastfeed in a century. Breastfeeding went from an almost universal practice in the late 1800s to a rarity by the 1950s, when only about a quarter of all babies started out life being breastfed. Mid-century customs around the childbirth experience were very different from what they are today. Most mothers
THE SCARSDALE INQUIRER |PAGE 11A
Breastfeeding:
What the research says
T
oday, experts encourage mothers to breastfeed for the entire first year of life if possible, but for at least the first six months. The U.S. government has been coming out with progressively stronger statements in favor of breastfeeding for three decades. In a 2011 report, “The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding,” the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published the results of a systematic review of all the major research about breastfeeding in developed countries. Some of the findings: • Formula feeding has health risks for babies. They are more likely to have common childhood ailments such as diarrhea and ear infections. Babies who are exclusively formulafed for the first six months of life have a risk of ear infections 100 percent higher than infants who are breastfed exclusively during the first six months. • Formula-fed infants are 250 percent more likely to be hospitalized with lower respiratory disease during the first year of life than babies
who have been exclusively breastfed for at least four months. • Infants who are never breastfed are 56 percent more likely to suffer Sudden Infant Death Syndrome than breastfed babies. • Higher rates of necrotizing enterocolitis, a severe gastrointestinal infection that can cause destruction of colon tissue, are found in vulnerable premature infants who are formula-fed. • Formula-feeding appears to be associated with a higher incidence of common conditions later in life, including childhood obesity, asthma and type 2 diabetes, all three of which have been increasing over time in the U.S. • Breastfeeding can also confer significant health benefits to mothers. Several studies have found that breastfeeding can lower the risk of breast cancer. • Studies indicate that women who have never breastfed have a 27 percent greater chance of developing ovarian cancer than women who have breastfed for some period of time. — Jackie Lupo
delivered their babies under anesthesia. When they left the hospital, they were given complicated recipes for the preparation of formula and strict instructions on instituting a schedule of feedings. The culture changed during the next generation, as more mothers began to embrace the practices of natural childbirth, feeding on demand and breastfeeding. But during the same period, infant formula manufacturers stepped up their marketing campaigns to promote their products as “scientific” alternatives to breast milk. New mothers were routinely sent home with discharge packs containing free samples of infant formula. In fact, as awareness of breastfeeding grew over the last half of the century, formula companies became even more aggressive in their techniques, enlisting hospitals and medical practitioners as marketing partners. The entrenchment of formula marketing via hospitals continues today, even though the American Academy of Pediatrics and the governments of the United States and other developed countries have all stated — unequivocally — that formula does not provide the quality of nutrition that babies get from mother’s milk. According to the U.S. Surgeon General’s office, three-quarters of U.S. infants now start out life being breastfed. Within three months after giving birth, more than two-thirds of breastfeeding mothers have already begun using formula. By the CONTINUED ON PAGE 12A
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