Photos here and on cover courtesy of Sonoma County Breastfeeding Coalition and the Sonoma County Department of Health Services, Maternal Child and Adolescent Health.
I remember the early weeks after my first child was born and the awkwardness of trying to breastfeed in the dark corner of a café where I was having lunch with one of my friends. Her baby had been born several days earlier than mine and we were both doing our best to be discreet. I think it was the first time I’d been out of the house during a gray and gloomy San Francisco winter, and I was desperate to make good on the commitment I had made to myself and my newborn daughter.
In my mid-twenties, my attending midwife at UCSF, who had spent years in foreign countries delivering babies and supporting new mothers after delivery, had laid out the facts for me. A natural prude, I might have chosen bottle feeding in another life if it weren’t for two of the many things my midwife told me: first, breastfeeding plays a key role in mother and infant bonding, and second, it is thought to reduce a baby’s risk of asthma and allergies. Having suffered from a lifetime of severe asthma, that was all I needed.
So my friend and I draped ourselves in individual tents of baby blankets and sweaters until not only could we not see each other, we’d lost the babies somewhere in the copious folds of “discretion.” Now that I think back (after three more children), I wonder why I cared. For whose comfort was I concerned? My friend and I often joked that breastfeeding in public got progressively easier with the younger siblings. It may be because we were more adept but I think it was also because the whole operation took place at a much lower “latitude,” so to speak. I was one of those rare mothers who was fortunate enough not to have to go back to work with a nursing baby. (I worked for the state government at the time and they said I was welcome to pump – in a communal bathroom stall.) And so it happened that none of my children was bottle-fed. I was lucky to have the support I needed at home.
So, when I got a call to write about the World Breastfeeding Awareness Week (August 1-7), I had to laugh. Finally, something I know about. I think I spent nearly a decade in the fashionable nursing bra, which looks like something from the lingerie drawer of Broom Hilda.
It is really quite a new thing in the big picture of human history, the concept of “breastfeeding awareness.” Until the invention of commercial infant formula in 1867 by Justus von Liebig, options for mothers not wishing to breastfeed were limited to a wet nurse and something called “dry nursing,” a prepared food, which was later linked to high rates of infant mortality. Already becoming less fashionable among society women, the move away from breastfeeding increased significantly following the invention of Elijah Pratt’s patented India-rubber nipple. After all, this was science. And science knows best, right?
Infant formula has played its role when mothers died during childbirth or were unable to breastfeed for various reasons. But somewhere along the way, American women and midwives and doctors began to understand that something important was being lost.
It began almost as far back as the late ‘30s and into the ‘70s, when the global community pointed its finger at one of the biggest providers of infant formula in the form of the “Nestle boycott.” Nestle, particularly in poor, developing countries, had sponsored widespread advertising and “education” campaigns to encourage mothers to use formula as a “healthier” alternative for babies. Poor infrastructure and sanitation made access difficult to clean water needed to sterilize bottles and nipples, and infants began to suffer from bacterial infections. Many children, from all countries, have lactose intolerance and reacted to the cow’s-milk-based formulas by becoming weak and ill. And, formula is expensive. Women who were not able to afford it on a regular basis would sometimes dilute it to make it last longer, inadvertently depriving their infants of vital nutrients and calories. Once a mother’s milk dries up, so do the options. Formula costs oftentimes make it difficult for families to buy food for the other children. Overall, infant mortality went up and nutrition for the mother and other children went down. The boycott of Nestle infant products, which began in the mid-70s, remains in effect today.
Breastfeeding has been on the rise for some time now. And lately, medical science has been on its side.
First, there are the health benefits.
In the first days after delivery, the mother produces colostrum, which contains vital natural immunities, antibodies and protective proteins that have yet to be reproduced in a laboratory. It also contains Vitamin A to help protect the eyes and reduce infections and aids the infant in developing intestinal functions that give him or her more protection from microorganisms and allergens. Colostrum is produced in small volumes – exactly the right amount for a newborn.
According to the Sonoma County Breastfeeding Coalition, breastfeeding is “the perfect first food for babies’ growth and brain development and protects your baby against diarrhea, constipation, allergies, asthma, cancer, diabetes, ear infections, tooth decay and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).” Studies show that breastfed babies are less likely to develop diabetes or become obese in later years. According to Ruth Lawrence, M.D., professor of pediatrics and obstetrics at the University of Rochester School of Medicine in New York, “There are 4000 species of mammals and they all make a different milk. Human milk is made for human infants and it meets all their specific nutrient needs.”
Breastfeeding is also good for the mother. It stimulates the post-natal uterus to contract back to its original size by releasing the natural hormone oxytocin. Lactation burns up extra calories, helping the mother lose “baby fat” after delivery. Nursing a baby also releases natural hormones that allow both mother and baby to relax. Infants receive information and learn about their world by human contact. The physical closeness between mother and baby provides important psychological benefits. Nursing is also thought to prevent ovarian, uterine and breast cancer. (Personally, I always thought that if I couldn’t take the time to sit and nurse my infant, even with three other rambunctious children in the house, then when was I ever going to find the time for this child?)
Breastfeeding has economic benefits, especially to mothers in developing countries where formula draws away a large part of the family’s monthly income. Breastfeeding requires no bottles or nipples and costs the family nothing. Ironic that it is difficult in the U.S. to leave the maternity ward without a suitcase of formula samples and coupons. Yet it is this type of free advertising that has allowed formula companies to get around the “International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes,” which requires them to clearly state that breastfeeding is best and substitutes should only be used after consulting with health professionals.
Renowned pediatric health experts Martha and Dr. William Sears write, “Add up the approximately $1,200 a year it costs to buy formula, the expense of buying and cleaning bottles, nipples, and tote bags, and the medical costs for more frequent doctor’s visits for formula-fed infants, and you’ll see that breastfeeding is a nutritional bargain…. Doctors estimate that an increase in frequency and duration of breastfeeding could save $29 billion a year in medical costs in the United States.”
The World Alliance for Breastfeeding (WABA) has been a leader in eliminating barriers to breastfeeding. Among their “Ten Points for Nurturing the Future” is:
“Refuse any gifts, sponsorship or support from manufacturers of infant feeding products and accessories. Condemn … the use of products that cause waste and harm the environment.”
For a list of events during World Breastfeeding Week (August 1-7), see WABA’s Web site: www.waba.org.
The Sonoma Coalition for Breastfeeding offers resources for new mothers, including advice for nursing mothers returning to work and free home visits: www.sonoma-county.org/health/ph/mcah/breastfeeding.htm.
La Leche League of Santa Rosa has breastfeeding consultants on call as well as an informative guide to national and California legislation pertaining to breastfeeding rights: http://lllnorcal.org/SantaRosaCA.html.
