Breastfeeding

This week’s post will focus on one of the public health measures that impacts children’s development worldwide. One area of concern that would improve the health of many of our children on a global scale is breastfeeding. It wasn’t until I took a class that addressed both the benefits of breastfeeding and gave new moms some practical advice on how to accomplish this as a new mother. My course this semester at Walden has also added some new insight as to how important breastfeeding is to the health of our world’s children. Breastfeeding is especially important to me because, as a first time mother to a young son, I realized that it is the best choice for me, my son, and our planet. Breastfeeding benefits everyone.

One benefit of breastfeeding, which has many facets, is the health benefit for the infant. According to the World Health Organization website, breastfeeding benefits infants by offering them protection from infections: gastrointestinal infections, respiratory infections, and ear infections to name a few. Breastfeeding provides optimal complete nutrition for infants from birth through six months of age, and can provide half or more of a child’s nutritional needs from six to twelve months. As the child grows older, breastmilk can continue to provide a third of a child’s nutritional needs between ages one and two. The World Health Organization goes on to say that “globally in 2012, 162 million children under five were estimated to be stunted and almost 100 million had low weight for height, mostly as a consequence of poor feeding and repeated infections” (www.who.int). Many of these problems could be prevented with more mothers breastfeeding their children. Another staggering statistic the World Health Organization cites that 220,000 children’s lives could be saved every year if optimal breastfeeding, appropriate complementary feeding practices were followed. Other health benefits for infants are protection from childhood cancers, protection from obesity, lowered risk of the infant developing asthma or allergies, enhancement of vaccine effectiveness, and facilitation of proper dental and jaw development. The list goes on and on.

Breastfeeding also benefits the mother in many ways as well. Mothers will benefit from a decreased risk of breast, endometrial and ovarian cancers, and a faster recovery from childbirth. Breastfeeding mothers also enjoy a unique bond with their infant knowing they are providing for the infant’s nutritional needs and delighting in knowing they are helping their baby grow. On a financial note, breastfeeding can save families money because it is free; there is no additional equipment to buy! Even if you decide to express breast milk using a pump, the investment in a breast pump (usually about $250, now covered by many insurance plans) is inexpensive compared to the cost of formula (about $1500 a year per child, sometimes more).

On an environmental note, breastfeeding has positive environmental impacts as well. Because breast milk is produced on demand, there is no packaging to throw away that will end up in our landfills. We would also reduce greenhouse gases because we would reduce the amount of cow’s milk needed for formula as well as save in fuel and shipping costs, thereby saving money and helping our environment!

If you need more reasons to breastfeed, check out http://notmilk.com/101.html. It gives one hundred and one reasons that support breastfeeding. I support breastfeeding for all of these reasons, and if every child in the world was breastfeeding, our children would reap the benefits worldwide.

References

http://notmilk.com/101.html

http://www.who.int

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK52687/