This week (August 1-7) is World Breastfeeding Week.
I am doing my part by sharing information I have researched and stories I have been blessed by about breastfeeding. I have a group on Facebook (Natural Childbirth and Breastfeeding) that I am sharing with, and I thought you might like the information too.
Here is what I shared with them today -
Hi ladies!
Hope you are all as excited about this week as I am. I am so happy and blessed to share information with you that I have found researching breastfeeding.
I have a few stories from other breastfeeding moms that I will share, and I will also answer the questions that some of you submitted.
*I do want to make a disclaimer - I hope that all of you are pro-breastfeeding. But, in the case you aren't, please do not take anything that is written this week (or any other time for that matter) to be judgemental towards you if you didn't breastfeed. This is an educational group. Some things will be my opinion, but most everything comes from research I have done. If you have any questions about anything that is posted, please feel free to ask.
Today, I am going to share an excerpt out of one of my favorite breastfeeding books, "So That's What They're For!" by Janet Tamaro.
This comes from the 2nd chapter in her book entitled "Breastmilk versus Artificial Baby Milk: The Fizzled Great Debate"
Did You Know?
1. Breastfeeding, thanks to the physical closeness and the rush of hormones, cements bonding (it’s an incredibly warm, comforting feeling for both of you).
2. Studies show that breastmilk is the perfect brain food during the first year of life. Formula feeding is associated with lower IQ – by 5 to 10 points!
3. Breastmilk enhances brain development and cognitive development.
4. Breastmilk provides nutrients not found anywhere else. Why is that a big deal? Because it contains immunities to diseases and aids in the development of your baby’s immune system – the “soldiers” that keep him healthy. Formula cannot do that.
5. Breastfed babies have fewer illnesses – and dramatically fewer serious illnesses. Through your breastmilk, you hand off your antibodies to disease. About 80 percent of the cells in breastmilk are “macrophages,” cells that are so powerful, they kill bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Other cells have been shown to kill carcinogens invading cells, preventing those cells from becoming cancerous.
6. Breastmilk has a protein called “human alpha-lactalbumin” that is lethal to tumors. This protein induces “apoptosis”. That’s a good thing: it keeps cancer cells from replicating, and eventually they take the hint and leave.
7. Because of numbers 5 and 6, say good-bye to pneumonia, botulism, bronchitis, staphylococcal infections, influenza, and German measles.
8. And…it dramatically lowers the risk for eczema, ulcerative colitis, Hodgkin’s disease, leukemia, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, and urinary tract infections.
9. Ditto for other serious illnesses. Breastfed babies are four times less likely to be hospitalized for bacterial infections; less likely to suffer from Crohn’s disease (a difficult-to-treat intestinal disease), dermatitis, diarrhea, diabetes, liver diseases, and other afflictions.
10. The chance of SIDS is reduced by 50 percent compared to formula-fed babies.
11. Less gastrointestinal reflux (that’s “spit-up”, my friends).
12. Fewer cases of ear infections. In fact, ear infections are three to four times more prevalent in formula-fed babies.
13. Breastfed babies are less likely to have allergies, asthma, and allergic reactions to food and the environment. Even if you have a family full of wheezers and your baby has the wheezing gene, breastfeeding will reduce the severity.
14. Formula-fed babies see the doctor almost twice as often as breastfed babies do.
15. If you breastfeed, you’re less likely to be home with a sick baby.
16. Breastmilk is cheaper than formula. Wait, it’s free!
17. Breastmilk is easier to prepare and much easier to digest than formula.
18. Breastmilk is always the right temperature.
19. Breastmilk is always clean.
20. Breastfeeding requires no special equipment, and you don’t have to sterilize your chest!
21. If you breastfeed, you don’t have to remember food with you every time you leave the house. You’ll always have it with you.
22. Breastfeeding makes traveling less of a hassle. You won’t run out of breastmilk if your plane is delayed.
23. If you breastfeed, your pediatrician will (should!) commend you for it.
24. If you breastfeed, your baby will love you for it.
25. Breastfeeding may help your child avoid a weight problem later in life (research shows that formula-fed babies can gain too much weight, while breastfed babies gain a normal amount).
26. Ditto with adult obesity – much less likely in people who were breastfed.
27. Breast pumps make it possible to give your baby breastmilk even when you are not around.
28. Breastfed babies are 40 percent less likely to have misaligned teeth.
29. Breastfed babies have better eyesight.
30. Breastmilk is environmentally sound (and you don’t even have to recycle it!).
31. Breastfeeding satisfies crucial emotional needs. All babies need to be held, and studies have shown that premature babies are more likely to die if they are not held or stroked. Bottle feeding, no matter how well-intentioned the parents, requires less physical contact, and when a baby is old enough to hold a bottle, it’s often a solo activity.
32. Studies have shown that formula feeding may increase a baby girl’s risk of developing breast cancer in later life. (see 5 and 6)
33. Breastmilk contains normal pain relievers for baby. What a godsend to have liquid endorphins at the ready, and a breast to comfort a crying baby! We’re talking instant soothing.
34. Breastfeeding is great for jaw and proper dental development because babies use as much as sixty times more energy to get breastfed that to get formula from a bottle.
35. Breastfed babies have straighter teeth and fewer cavities.
And the BEST reason to breastfeed??? “Enzymatically hydrolyzed reduced minerals, whey protein concentrate, palm olein, soy, coconut, high-oleic safflower oils, lactose, maltodextrin, potassium citrate, calcium phosphate, calcium chloride, salt, potassium chloride, magnesium chloride, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, manganese sulfate, potassium iodide, soy lecithin, mono and diglycerides, inositol, choline bitartrate, sodium ascorbate, alpha tocopheryl acetate, niacinamide, calcium pantothenate, vitamin A acetate, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamine mononitrate, folic acid, phylloquinone, biotin, vitamin D3, vitamin B12, taurine, L-carnitine”
That’s what’s in formula.
More to come tomorrow. If you would like this information in a Word document, please ask and I can email it to you.
Blessings,
Meredith
Hope y'all have a wonderful day! There will be a post each day this week! I can hardly believe it myself!
No comments:
Post a Comment