Public Health: The wonders of Breast Feeding

Breast milk is widely acknowledged as the most complete form of nutrition for infants, with a range of benefits for infants' health, growth, immunity and development.
-- Healthy People 2010, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia

I am a firm believer that children who are breast fed for up to a year are the healthiest babies. Breast feeding has great benefits for both mother and child as the milk is naturally proportioned to build up and maintain a perfect immune system for the baby. also,the mother benefits greatly as well, as stated by one research specialist.Researcher Dr. Eleanor Bimla Schwarz, an assistant professor of medicine, epidemiology, obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences, said: "Breastfeeding is an important part of the way women's bodies recover from pregnancy. There are certain hormonal and physiological changes the body expects to go through after pregnancy and when those changes don't happen, that leaves certain body systems in a precarious way. The longer a mother nurses her baby, the better for both of them."(http://www.llli.org/nb/nbmarapr09p46.html).

According to an article in NRDC Newsletter (http://www.nrdc.org/breastmilk/benefits.asp)

Studies have demonstrated a number of important health benefits to breastfeeding. Among them:

• Breast-fed children are more resistant to disease and infection early in life than formula-fed children
  
• Breast-fed children are less likely to contract a number of diseases later in life, including juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, heart disease, and cancer before the age of 15
  
• Mothers who breastfeed are less likely to develop osteoporosis later in life, are able to lose weight gained during pregnancy more easily and have a lower risk of breast, uterine and ovarian cancer
  

Breastfeeding also has economic advantages: it's cheaper than buying formula and helps avoid medical bills later because it helps equip the baby to fight off disease and infection. New parents are well advised to learn all they can about the pros and cons of breast milk and formula.(NRDC)

Breast feeding is of such great interest to me, in that when I have completed my studies I plan to get involved in an on-going project hosted by the University of the West Indies on the education of mothers on the benefits of Breast Feeding their babies.

 I read the report on a study that was done and presented by the West Indian Medical Journal,on Breastfeeding patterns among six-week-old term infants at the University Hospital.

Some of the findings reported were that " a higher proportion of mothers in lower socio-economic groups were breastfeeding at six months postpartum compared with mothers in higher socio-economic groups. The fact that breastfeeding favours good weight gain has been a common finding of the more recent studies at the UHWI (4, 14, 15) and was found here also. This agrees with information from international agencies such as the World Health Organization which states that breastfeeding, especially exclusive breastfeeding, favours the best weight gain.

In the Caribbean, a high proportion of women have always provided their infants with additional food items along with breastmilk (4, 6, 11, 14, 16) though we found a decline from previous reports. The items have changed from primarily ‘bush teas' and orange juice to water and commercial formulae. This may reflect the greater urbanization of the population and greater access to tinned formula feeds.

Complementary items were most commonly introduced in the first month of the infant’s life, especially two to four weeks postpartum. The primary reasons given to start additional foods have remained consistent: to give water and; inadequate breastmilk (4, 11, 14–16).

My hope for the future is to be an advocate of the "Breast is Best" concept because I do believe that it is so.I have started at home with my own daughter who just had her first baby, she was breast fed for a year and have agreed to do so for her daughter.

A penny for your thoughts: Is this appropriate?

Multi-tasking, Gisele-style: The supermodel feeds her daughter while having her hair, nails and make-up done

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2522180/Gisele-Bundchen-tweets-image-breastfeeding-stylists-dance-attendance.html