Why Breastfeed?

Indeed...  Why should a mother breastfeed?  Why should she breastfeed when there is a perfectly "good" breastmilk substitute on the market?

The sad thing is, there is NOTHING, that can even come close to breastmilk.  My little boy has had one gastro bug and one cold in his 15 month life span.  I firmly believe that my breastfeeding and supplementing him with vitamins and minerals has prevented things like bronchitis, flu, pneumonia, allergies and so on and so forth.  In comparison, I know many bottle fed babies close in age to my son who are very sickly little souls.  This is not their mothers fault however.  My one friend was advised at her son's birth NOT to breastfeed because she was so badly torn "down there".  I fail to see the logic in the advice but I certainly don't blame her for listening to the professionals.  They are the professionals after all.  Aren't they?

Unfortunately, breastfeeding is not only a choice and preference of some mothers but it's also a choice and preference for many in the medical profession.  A doctor, nurse or midwife may have had a bad experience with breastfeeding and so during the rest of their career, wrongly and untruthfully advise their following not to breastfeed or that there's "no real advantage" to it.  I believe that they tell themselves and others this nonsense to validate their own insecurities when it comes to breastfeeding. 

What are the health benefits?

There are SO many health benefits to breastfeeding.  Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to describe them in detail to others because they feel resentful at being proven wrong.  But lets have a look at these benefits shall we?

Benefits for Baby

-  They have less chance of contracting diarrhoea and vomiting bugs and having to go to the hospital as a result.
-  They have fewer ear and chest infections and having to go to hospital as a result.
-  They have less chance of being painfully constipated.
-  They have less likelihood of becoming obese and developing type 2 diabetes in adulthood.
-  They have less chance of contracting eczema
-  It lowers the risk of cot death (SIDS) by 50%

Benefits for Mom

-  It lowers the risk of breast and ovarian cancers by a percentage each year that you breastfeed
-  Naturally uses up to 500 calories a day
-  It's free
-  It builds a strong emotional bond between mother and child

So why don't mothers give breastfeeding a go?  There are a number of reasons for this.  "I don't like my nipples being touched" - guess what love, if you were living in the 1500's your baby would DIE because you "don't like your nipples being touched".  Another reason is "I don't make enough milk" -  if you didn't make enough milk, your baby would DIE.  Your body is DESIGNED to make enough milk.  There are however, legitimate medical reasons why a mother SHOULDN'T breastfeed and there are only two of them.  1.  She has HIV.  2.  She is on medication that would harm her baby.  Anymore?  Nope.  There are only two legitimate reasons why a mother shouldn't breastfeed.  And yet, there are thousands of reasons that women use to justify not breastfeeding and unless they are the two afore mentioned reasons, the rest of them are selfish, silly reasons that would mean your baby would die if you were living a few hundred years ago.  As said in my previous blog, times may have changed, but that doesn't mean our parenting methods have too.

In my next blog I will be giving advice and tips on how to deal with the initial pain of breastfeeding.

Happy reading everyone!  :-)