From worldbreastfeedingweek.org:
“The World Breastfeeding Week 2016 theme is on raising awareness of the links between breastfeeding and the Sustainable Development Goals. By recognizing that breastfeeding is a key to sustainable development, we will value our wellbeing from the start of life, respect each other and care for the world we share.”
This is a big statement. I am sure the people that wrote this took a long time to put it together and come up with this beautiful set of words.
Me? Not so good in fancy sentences. So I’ll just say it as is.
I am a mom who breastfed all her kids.
When it comes to choosing between bottle or breastfeed I find that most moms have a very strong opinion- either they will nurse or they will just let that milk dry within a week after giving birth (uhhh… the waste of that golden liquid…). And all of them KNOW why they made the choice. I have not met one mom that was “converted” from breastfeeding to formula and vice versa.
So all we have to do is go to the ones that are on the fence and try to tip them over to the nursing side.
Why I choose to nurse
You will find all the studies that link between mother’s milk and higher cognitive performance, booster immune system, less allergies what not…
The fact is, it’s all statistics, and for anyone who ever took statistics class, we know that it’s really very hard to prove anything for 100%. My older son was breastfed for 6 months and still had chronic ear infections. My younger son was breastfed for a year (never had formula in his life) and has major speech delays… some of my friends did not breastfeed for one second, and still have healthy, smart kids.
So why do I choose to nurse and not use formula?
Because this is the natural thing to do!!!
There are very few natural things left in this world of technology, cellular, manufacturing and materialistic world. Even our vegetables and fruits that we think are natural, stopped being simply natural… Breastfeeding is one of the only things left that nature just hands it over to us. Nature literally yells “this is what you need to do!”
So when I have something that is so obviously natural, it must be healthy. It must have some kind of an advantage over a formulated, manufactured, reversely engineered food. I’ve heard horror stories about missing ingredients in formula, salmonella in formula and other human errors that have cost babies their lives and health. I am not willing to take even the smallest chance. Our babies and kids have to face so many health obstacles in our ever changing planet that if there is one thing I can do to help, especially when they are that young and totally dependent on me, I’m going to do it.
Added bonuses of nursing
Well, of course there are some other advantages, that make so much sense to me like:
–No need to prepare a bottle, make sure it’s the right temperature, the right amount blah, blah… breastfeeding is just a shirt lift away… (this is a huge advantage for night feeding!)
–No washing bottles, sterilizing, drying and all that hassle
— Clutter free diaper bag – no carrying bottles, formula (or being stuck with none!)
–This might sound selfish… but that time you have to sit down to nurse… it’s just heaven for me. I can actually take a break, relax and do nothing besides looking at the masterpiece called my baby
Which mom are you?
Although I’ve always breastfed, I’ve only pumped with my older one since I went back to work when he was four months old. I totally get moms that are pumping. Sometimes its easier to know how much the baby had, and obviously the advantage of being able to leave the baby and have someone else feed is a plus. In fact, the number one reason for moms to choose a bottle is that others can help feed the baby! I really don’t think they realize it can be done by pumping!
However, weather you choose to lactate, pump, or formula feed, we all are adults and have our kids interest in mind. I don’t judge. I just tell my story, my side, and if somehow it will make someone who’s on the fence breastfeed more that she would’ve done, I’ll be happy.
10 fun facts about breastfeeding
To finalize this blog post, I’ve gathered some fun facts about breastfeeding that you may or may not know!
1. Ready for a shopping spree? Breastfeeding saves a family approximately $2 to 4 thousand dollars annually (compared to cost of formula).
2. Feel guilty about not going to the gym? It takes 1000 calories a day on average to produce breast milk! – same energy it takes to walk 7 miles!
3. They don’t call it liquid gold for nothing! Human milk is sold on the Internet for $4 per ounce. That’s about 262 times the price of oil.
4. Bigger is not always better- The amount of breast milk a mom produces has nothing to do with her breast size.
5. Looking to make a career change? Throughout history, mothers who could not breastfeed their babies employed a wet nurse. Yes, nursing was an actual job.
6. The ’60s sucked for nursing- US breastfeeding rates were lowest in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when only 20 to 25 percent of mothers breastfed. It’s not a coincidence! This is when baby formula as we know it started to emerge and come out with marketing campaigns that provided inexpensive formula to hospitals and pediatricians.
7. It’s all about the money? infant formula companies heightened marketing campaigns in non-industrialized countries. Unfortunately, poor sanitation led to steeply increased mortality rates among infants fed formula prepared with contaminated (drinking) water and over-diluting the formula in an effort to “stretch” supplies resulting in malnourishment for the infant. This may be remembered most as the Nestle Boycott of 1977.
8. Don’t try this at home! Exclusive breastfeeding, with no supplemental formula or solid feedings, delays the mother’s ovulation and works as a natural form of birth control for the first six months after childbirth, if the mother has not resumed her menstrual cycles and if her baby is continuing to breastfeed fully both day and through the night. But be careful! I’ve trusted this and still unexpectedly got pregnant with my third when my second was six months old!
9. Stinky Business- A breastfed baby’s stool do not smell as pungent as a formula fed baby poop. They also differ in color and consistency.
10. Not for drinking only! Breastmilk has other surprising uses due to it’s immunological agents and anti-bacterial nature. Use it to treat pink eye, dry skin, cradle cap, diaper rash, insect bites, chicken pox, warts, sore nipples, cold and even make up remover!
Now-go enter our awesome giveaway!
We are giving out a baby mushroom mat and a beautiful Sarah Wells famous Lizzy breast pump bag (oh… I wish I had that 8 years ago when I had to schlep that ugly Medela Bag when I was going back and forth to my office…). Don’t miss a chance to win by getting all the entries you can!
Enter HERE!
Cheers!
Liat