Breast Feeding.
Exclusive breastfeeding refers to feeding an infant with breast milk only without any other liquid or supplement during the first six months. From research this has a load of benefits to both mother and child. Exclusive breastfeeding has a potential to prevent at least 13%of all under five death in developing countries. Also, it could help avert about 55-87% of neonatal deaths.
Other benefits include:
It's easier to digest than formular
It fights diseases in children and mothers
Saves money
Helps mother-child bonding
It could help reduce the rate of breast & ovarian cancer, type 2 diabetes, postpatum depression, etc in women.
When breastfeeding as a woman,the oxytocin hormones are produced which can calme the woman.
Breastfeeding protects from risk of contaminated water supply in developing countries epecially
It has the right temperature and hence helps prevent hypothermia -a state where the body temperature drops below normal
For me, breastfeeding is most appropriate for infants; After reading the numerous benefits, I came to this conclusion. I practiced exclusive breastfeeding with my kids. Breastfeeding is meaningful to me because it's the cheapest means of protecting these littles from illness and malnutrition at the early stage of life particulary in the developing countries where the standard of living is relatively low.
Intrestingly, in Kuwait (one of the richest countries in the world), breastfeeding is not a popular practice due to the fact that formulars are well subsidized by the government and inadequate professional support. Mothers begin to give their babies water, juice and herbs from the very first month and about 32.8% below six months use bottles. Some other misconceptions about breastfeeding is that breast milk is not sufficient for infants; it is only meant for babies who came through ceaserean section, and only babies who spent some time in special care wards may need it. But, science has shown how small babies' stomachs are and that breast milk is just sufficient for this size, also all babies need breast milk whether full term or premature babies.
As a result of this, there's a high rate of 24% of chronic malnutrition amongst children who are under 5yrs of age in Kuwait despite her wealth.
From this data, breastfeeding could be beneficial to women and children in developing countries as it can reduce greatly the rate of malnutrition (one of the causes of infant deaths in developing countries).
Being aware of this information, I would be an advocate in this area by telling as many mothers (even fathers) that I know the benefits of breastfeeding. This information has also helped me in erasing my ignorance--before now, I used to think breast milk is not sufficient for twins or tripplets, but from research, reverse is the case. So, mothers with twins and tripplets could go ahead with exclusive breast feeding for some months(Berger, 2012). But the challenge here is with working mothers who especially are the breadwinners of their home--it might be pretty difficult to cope with exclusive breastfeeding
References
http://worldbreastfeedingtrends.org
http://unicef.org/media/images/fact_sheet.doc
http://womenhealth.gov
I enjoyed reading your blog about breastfeeding. I wrote about breastfeeding because it is good for the environment and it's healthy for the mother and the child. During my pregnancy, I gained over 40 pounds and when I breastfed, I lost 60 pounds. My child is healthy and I am too. I read in an article that when a mother breastfeed it reduces the chance of the mother having ovarian cancer.
ReplyDeleteThanks. It's amazing the numerous benefits of breatfeeding.
DeleteToluwalope
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing such an interesting information. I agree, breastfeeding is not sufficient is just a misconception. Researches proved that breastfed babies are healthier and less likely to develop obesity and diabetes. This might explain why Kuwait has the highest rates of childhood obesity and diabetes among the world countries.
Thanks for adding to my knowledge,I didn't come acrosss this information during my research.
DeleteThank your for sharing your information on breast feeding. I am not a mother and have had little experience or knowledge on breast feeding.
ReplyDeleteVery informative, however not every baby takes on to breast feeding. my oldest daughter never to on to breast feeding, I did go through a postpardum depression, on the other hand the second child gravitate to breast milk than formula. Today the breast fed child loves meat and the non breast fed child dislike meat. When I breastfed I didn't experience postpardum depression
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