"I think of human milk not just as food, but as a sophisticated and intricate infant support system that has evolved over millions of years to provide the infant with nutrition, protection and components of information." -- Dr. E. Stephen Buescher, a professor of pediatrics at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, who heads the inflammation section in the school's Center for Pediatric Research.
This quote is from today's NYT STORY (registration required - but it's free and you will want to read this article) on the new public health campaign to make women understand that breastfeeding isn't just GOOD for babies, but that NOT breastfeeding is actually BAD for babies.
Get the distinction? It's a major shift in how we think about this most critical of infant-maternal health issues.
This public health campaign has been a long time coming. I wrote a MAGAZINE STORY about the campaign and how the infant formula industry/lobby has tried to quash it.
It's time we think of infant formula for what it is: a medical product that should be used when babies can't eat "real" food.
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8 comments:
Now that the government recognizes breastfeeding as public health policy, the USA needs a more humane maternity leave like other first world countries so mothers can stay home more then 12 weeks with their newborns before retuning to work.
But now I have guilt!
That seems to be why this info hasn't been put out there before. Breastfeeding is a good thing, but formula is almost as good, we want to think. But yeah, I agree with Dewi--we have to make it easier for moms to keep their babies healthy and bonded.
Dewi is 100% correct.
Maternity leave and time for employed mothers to breastfeed are good public policy.
that line of thinking was the standard in the NICU where I used to work and my son was a patient. He received banked human breast milk rather than formula because of the huge risk of necrotizing enterocolitis. In fact, the protocol was all micropreemies, like my Daniel, whose mamas are not producing breastmilk or enough to mee the babies needs would receive banked milk. Of course since it is a human body fluid, we needed parental consent. The result was the incident of NEC dropped dramatically in that unit.
There was a large article on page 2 of my local newspaper this morning addressing this exact subject. I was so happy to see it. I only wish it had been on page 1. I agree with Dewi. In small companies not subject to the family leave laws, lots of moms return to work after only 6 weeks. To exclusively or even partially breastfeed when you have to return to work full-time is not easy. Especially if your company is not kind about allowing you to pump.
Laura - how wonderful about the banked human milk. When my daughter was a few months old and I returned to work part-time I pumped milk for her to have while I was gone. She would never take it. She would only take it straight from me. I still pumped for several months on days I worked to keep my supply up (at 26 months old she is still breastfeeding and never had a drop of formula - she slept with us and nursed more at night during this time to make up for what she refused while I was gone at work during the day)... so I had bags and bags of frozen breast milk. I tried desperately to donate it to a milk bank - I e-mailed several and all rejected it for various reasons (did not accept milk from out of state and there is not a bank in the state I live in, did not accept milk pumped prior to testing for HIV and such - which seemed absurd because if I'm negative NOW, then I was negative in the past when this milk was pumped. But no guarantee I'll remain negative in the future for the future milk you'll accept!) Anyway, I ended up pouring it down the drain, which broke my heart.
mamalife:
I can only answer for the milk bank I donated to 10 years ago, which was the last time I breastfed. The criteria is indeed strict and rigorous. AIDS and hepatitis fears make that a reality just like with blood donation. Blood donated is tested everytime. Why not this human body fluid? I can tell you the testing I went through is indeed rigorous and was ongoing, not a one time thing during the time I regularly donated. It isn't just the AIDS virus they are testing for. There are other viruses, bacteria as well as drug testing that is performed everytime to insure that the milk donated meets the criteria demanded by accepting NICUs and their patients' families. Personally, I saw nothing wrong with that....what parent wouldn't expect, demand stringent rules in accepting someone else's breastmilk just like they do in accepting donated blood for their critically ill newborn if needed?
I also understand your pain and frustration in dumping that liquid gold as my dear daughter #4 also rejected my pumped milk only taking it from the source. That is why I donated and was fortunate enough to live close to the Mother's Milk Bank and meet their criteria for donation. Everytime I poured bank milk into a feeding tube for one of my patients I wondered if it was my own back then. Perhaps this new directive will also make it possible for more Mother's Milk banks to be in place. Perhaps those moms like you who were frustrated in the past could push this issue forward.
Laura - absolutely I understand and agree with all the testing and would have had no problem undergoing any they required. It was just so heartbreaking throwing it away when I know what good it could have done. I do hope more milk banks open in the future.
I agree, breastfeeding is the best thing for the bebes - too bad when the hospital sends you home with one of their "free carseats" (c'mon no one else besides south Georgians get one?) - it doesn't give you the name of a really good plastic surgeon who can surgically tighten those suckers back up to where they started before the nursing! - I really hate how low my "girls" are hanging these days - but don't regret for a mo that I gave my 3 kids the best from me.
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