Earlier this year, researchers in Scotland examined the disjunction involving the idealism of exclusive breastfeeding and the fact that many families experience. The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the very first 6 months of life for all babies. Other organizations, like the American Academy of Pediatrics, recommend that most babies consume breast milk for the very first 12 months of life for maximum developmental and immune benefits. In line with the Scottish study, most women find these goals unrealistic, despite the known long-term great things about breastfeeding for both mom and baby.
Breastfeeding can reduce the incidence of diabetes, asthma, obesity, ear infections, upper respiratory infections, and SIDS. In reality, the World Health Organization has been quoted to call colostrum-the breast milk that the mother makes in the very first few days after a baby is born-“baby’s first immunization” due to the immunological benefits so it confers to newborns. In line with the authors of Breastfeeding Made Simple: Seven Natural Laws for Nursing Mothers, “exclusive breastfeeding for half a year by 90% of U.S. mothers could prevent 911 infant deaths and save the U.S. healthcare system US$13 billion.” Research has also shown that babies who’ve been breastfed excel in speech and language development and have higher IQ levels. Breastfeeding also provides myriad health advantages for mothers as well-there is just a significantly lower incidence of aggressive breast cancer, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, ovarian cancer, and diabetes in women who’ve breastfed.
If a mother and her infant have so much to get from breastfeeding, why are exclusive breastfeeding rates at 6 months postpartum only at 15% in the U.S., based on the CDC? Despite much promotion of the benefits and joys of breastfeeding, these low rates tend due to a not enough support within in the infrastructure of the healthcare system and within our communities at large. In reality, the mothers interviewed in the Scottish study said that having less support from healthcare providers, household members and friends contributed to their decision to avoid breastfeeding before their baby was 6 months old.
The unfortunate reality is, not all healthcare professionals fully support breastfeeding and what’s more-not all healthcare professionals are knowledgeable or skilled in providing breastfeeding support and counseling during nursing challenges. Many women receive some education in breastfeeding prenatally say, throughout a childbirth education class, but get very little continued counseling during the postpartum. Furthermore, the feamales in the study are right when they said that many healthcare providers paint a rosy picture of breastfeeding, choosing and then talk about the beautiful bonding experience that the mother-baby nursing dyad has during breastfeeding or the future health benefits. 卒乳後胸がしわしわ Too few folks actually speak about the common challenges and pitfalls that the woman may face while establishing breastfeeding out of anxiety about discouraging new mothers from getting started. In the long run, however, the women who are challenged by getting a good latch, sore nipples, pumping at the job, or getting chided in public while nursing often feel blindsided by these challenges or feel guilty about not achieving the “ideal picture” of a breastfeeding mother. These are but a some of the challenges that breastfeeding mothers may face.
To state that many women aren’t getting the support which they need from their communities to carry on exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months postpartum will be an understatement. Although some companies support breastfeeding with on-site lactation consultants, clean places for expressing breast milk, and on-site day care centers, many employers still do not have good systems set up to guide a mother who needs expressing her milk every few hours to keep up her milk supply on her growing baby. Despite the fact that many states have laws that protect a woman’s right expressing milk in a clean place other than a bathroom-for up to 3 years following the birth of these baby-some women are asked to pump in the tiny stall of the organization bathroom. Others struggle to get the break time that they need to express milk every few hours to avoid engorgement that may result in a breast infection.
Breastfeeding mothers have now been escorted off of airplanes, asked to leave restaurants and courtrooms, and shuffled into dressing rooms of major shops while breastfeeding their infant. The causes cited? Some members of the public find breastfeeding lewd, offensive or inappropriate. In Maine, regulations states “a mother has the best to breastfeed in virtually any location, whether public or private, as long as she’s otherwise authorized to be in that location.” Raised public awareness of the rights of nursing mothers is greatly needed seriously to encourage mothers to carry on breastfeeding and maximize the health advantages on her and her baby.
So where do we go from here? First we need to change the cultural attitudes around breastfeeding in the U.S. Breastfeeding our babies is the way that nature created for us to nourish and nurture our offspring. You can find often several key moments in the very first 6 months of a baby’s life where mothers are confronted with the decision to persevere through the nursing challenges or to modify to formula or exclusively feeding solid foods. However, more support from knowledgeable, skilled healthcare providers who utilize a non-judgmental way of counseling that extends beyond the very first 6 weeks postpartum is paramount of these critical times. Let’s be open and honest about the realities of breastfeeding-which may be hard and frustrating at times and beautifully transcendent at other time. By supporting one another, we are able to chip away at the goal of exclusively breastfeeding for the very first 6 months of life day by day, one feeding at a time.