Many benefits transpire from choosing nature’s method for infant feeding. Popularized by the La Leche League in a book called The Womanly Art of Breast Feeding, this routine is finding increasing acceptance among educated mothers and the thinking classes of society. Many scientific facts have amplified our understanding of the superiority for breast feeding over formula. In spite of infant formula propaganda, motivated by economic considerations, human milk and cow’s milk are very dissimilar. Only the water and lactose (milk sugar) contents resemble each other. The protein is different, with amino acid ratios that are quite distinct. Much less phenylalanine (a factor in the PKU syndrome, called phenylketonuria) is present in breast milk. The principal protein of cow’ s milk is beta- Lactoglobulin, while those of human milk are lysozyme and lactoferrin. The casein in the two milks are quite different. Fat content, cholesterol levels, and vitamins are likewise dissimilar.
Although technological tinkering has modified cow’s milk to make it less inappropriate for the human baby, hindsight proves the story of formula production to be a procession of errors. Additions and subtractions of Vitamin B6, Vitamin E, protein, sodium, and other substances have occurred. Various additives are employed in baby formulas, such as emulsifiers, thickening agents, and antioxidants. Although these are known not to be essential for nutrition, they seem for the most part to be lacking in normal breast milk.
Breast feeding affords considerable protection against infection, particularly the diarrheal diseases. Lack of cleanliness and contamination of bottles and formulas has produced a high mortality in developing nations where bottle feeding was introduced. Human milk is, moreover, rich in a wide range of “host resistance factors.” It contains Immunoglobulin A, which protects against a number of infections. Lysozyme, an enzyme particularly effective against viruses and bacteria, is rich in milk from the baby’s own mother. Factors that regulate the micro-organisms in the intestinal tract, as well as white blood cells (called macrophages), are there to combat diseaseproducing germs in the intestinal tract. A breast-fed baby develops a flora primarily of Lactobacilli, much different and more harmless than the normal germs resident in the intestine of a bottle-fed baby. Cow’s milk protein is the most common food allergen in infancy. About 1% of bottle-fed babies are affected by allergies to cow’s milk. These foreign cow (bovine) proteins enter the body through the relatively “open” young intestinal wall. In later childhood and adult life, these foreign proteins are normally broken down. However, in early infancy they are absorbed intact.
Breast feeding and the avoidance of semisolid foods—particularly eggs, meat, and wheat—until four to six months of age is considered the best protection against food allergies in infancy. Child spacing is relatively successful when the baby is breast fed full time. When the baby is totally nourished from his or her mother’s breast the menstrual period ordinarily does not return until at least six months after birth. A hormone called prolactin is secreted by the pituitary gland. This inhibits the onset of mother’s menstrual cycle. World estimates indicate that “lactation amenorrhea” has a larger statistical effect on large scale birth control than any other available contraceptive program! Breast feeding in Western cultures consists of a limited number of feedings, usually only in the daytime. Often the early use of solid foods will negate further this protective effect, explaining why many breast-feeding mothers become pregnant within the first year. Breast feeding has great economic implications. In all communities this form of nourishment conserves resources. Not only concerning the ingredients used in cow’s milk formulas, but also in canning tins and bottles, energy is consumed in production. Formula manufacturers have turned largely to the third world to promote their wares today. Sales personnel, dressed in white uniforms (milk nurses), enter the hospitals to give free packages of their artificial nutrition to mothers as they are about to leave. When mothers finally realize that they can neither afford the formula, or that it is unavailable, their breasts have already dried up. Then, thousands of babies lose their lives. One most important benefit of breast feeding, however, prevails in the emotional realm. An intense attachment between the mother and her infant was shown to be related to early contact. Called “bonding,” this occurrence is most significant during the first twenty four hours of life. Maladjustment developing later in the child, may be traced to the absence of this “mother— baby interaction” within the first few days after birth. Closer contact is more likely to occur when the mother breast feeds. She holds the baby more, cuddles it more, and is less likely, according to a number of surveys, to abuse the child physically subsequently.
In summary, then, we realize that there are many rewards to a natural birth and a natural feeding program. Whether the baby is born in a hospital or at home, reared on a farm or in the city, fed at the mother’ s breast or cradled at her side, both parents and babies will find happiness, health, and security in these simple, natural, satisfying approaches to parenthood.
Although technological tinkering has modified cow’s milk to make it less inappropriate for the human baby, hindsight proves the story of formula production to be a procession of errors. Additions and subtractions of Vitamin B6, Vitamin E, protein, sodium, and other substances have occurred. Various additives are employed in baby formulas, such as emulsifiers, thickening agents, and antioxidants. Although these are known not to be essential for nutrition, they seem for the most part to be lacking in normal breast milk.
Breast feeding affords considerable protection against infection, particularly the diarrheal diseases. Lack of cleanliness and contamination of bottles and formulas has produced a high mortality in developing nations where bottle feeding was introduced. Human milk is, moreover, rich in a wide range of “host resistance factors.” It contains Immunoglobulin A, which protects against a number of infections. Lysozyme, an enzyme particularly effective against viruses and bacteria, is rich in milk from the baby’s own mother. Factors that regulate the micro-organisms in the intestinal tract, as well as white blood cells (called macrophages), are there to combat diseaseproducing germs in the intestinal tract. A breast-fed baby develops a flora primarily of Lactobacilli, much different and more harmless than the normal germs resident in the intestine of a bottle-fed baby. Cow’s milk protein is the most common food allergen in infancy. About 1% of bottle-fed babies are affected by allergies to cow’s milk. These foreign cow (bovine) proteins enter the body through the relatively “open” young intestinal wall. In later childhood and adult life, these foreign proteins are normally broken down. However, in early infancy they are absorbed intact.
Breast feeding and the avoidance of semisolid foods—particularly eggs, meat, and wheat—until four to six months of age is considered the best protection against food allergies in infancy. Child spacing is relatively successful when the baby is breast fed full time. When the baby is totally nourished from his or her mother’s breast the menstrual period ordinarily does not return until at least six months after birth. A hormone called prolactin is secreted by the pituitary gland. This inhibits the onset of mother’s menstrual cycle. World estimates indicate that “lactation amenorrhea” has a larger statistical effect on large scale birth control than any other available contraceptive program! Breast feeding in Western cultures consists of a limited number of feedings, usually only in the daytime. Often the early use of solid foods will negate further this protective effect, explaining why many breast-feeding mothers become pregnant within the first year. Breast feeding has great economic implications. In all communities this form of nourishment conserves resources. Not only concerning the ingredients used in cow’s milk formulas, but also in canning tins and bottles, energy is consumed in production. Formula manufacturers have turned largely to the third world to promote their wares today. Sales personnel, dressed in white uniforms (milk nurses), enter the hospitals to give free packages of their artificial nutrition to mothers as they are about to leave. When mothers finally realize that they can neither afford the formula, or that it is unavailable, their breasts have already dried up. Then, thousands of babies lose their lives. One most important benefit of breast feeding, however, prevails in the emotional realm. An intense attachment between the mother and her infant was shown to be related to early contact. Called “bonding,” this occurrence is most significant during the first twenty four hours of life. Maladjustment developing later in the child, may be traced to the absence of this “mother— baby interaction” within the first few days after birth. Closer contact is more likely to occur when the mother breast feeds. She holds the baby more, cuddles it more, and is less likely, according to a number of surveys, to abuse the child physically subsequently.
In summary, then, we realize that there are many rewards to a natural birth and a natural feeding program. Whether the baby is born in a hospital or at home, reared on a farm or in the city, fed at the mother’ s breast or cradled at her side, both parents and babies will find happiness, health, and security in these simple, natural, satisfying approaches to parenthood.
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