Breast is still best

A mother’s breast milk is specifically created for her particular baby at its particular stage of development, such as being of a specific quality if the baby is premature. It has been found that breast-fed babies are healthier and get fewer infections than bottle-fed babies. Breast-milk contains 100 ingredients which are not found in artifical milk. Breast-milk also contains many anti-bodies which the mother makes to fight whatever disease is present in her surroundings. Breast-feeding cuts the occurence and severity of infection in the digestive tract and respiratory system, plus ear infections, bacterial meningitis, urinary tract infections, and conditions such as eczema and asthma.

Breast-feeding also benefits the child psychologically by creating an intimate bond with the mother. Breast-milk also helps create smarter children as it has ingredients which specifically nourish the nervous tissue of the brain.

Even more remarkably, scientists have been discovering year after year that breast-feeding significantly boosts the health of individuals well into their adult years.

Adults who were breast-fed babies have fewer health problems, even in their old age.

Most recently a Swedish study of 9,000 British individuals found that babies who are breast-fed are less-likely to suffer from stress and anxiety later in life as adults.

The study in the Archives of Diseases in Childhood found that people who had been breast-fed as babies were four-times less likely to suffer from stress in later life than those people who had been bottle-fed babies.

Another study found that fewer elderly people suffered from geriatric illnesses if they had been breast-fed as babies. Incredible!

So what then is the problem? Some new mothers at first think they can’t produce sufficient milk and so seek alternatives, but many women can attest to the fact that after a little perserverance with baby, their milk finally comes flowing.

Other women fear that breast-feeding might ruin the look of their breasts. Then there is society’s attitude to nursing mothers. This was recently exposed in the North American magazine whose cover photo of a baby suckling her mother’s breast sparked what is in our view a nonsensical sense of “moral outrage” by some readers who we are glad to note were quickly put in their place by pro-breast-feeding advocates.

Here in Trinidad and Tobago, The Informative Breastfeeding Service (TIBS) raised awareness of the benefits of breast-feeding as they recently celebrated World Breastfeeding Week from August 1-7.

The benefits of breast-feeding have been proven beyond doubt in the avalanche of information available on the Internet. Apart from a mother having HIV-infection or taking certain medications, there seems little reason why a woman should not breast feed.

We say breast is best, and breast-feeding is the way to go!