Study: Mothers Should Breastfeed their Newborns for Six Months
April 05, 2010
If you are expecting your first child, you probably read up on everything that you should do and expect as a first-time mother.
That can include what you should eat and how much you should exercise during pregnancy; how often you baby will sleep and how often they should be fed; and, perhaps most importantly, what to do about breastfeeding.
Well, a new study published this week in "Pediatrics," the official journals of the American Academy of Pediatrics, found that the United States could save $13 billion and prevent 911 deaths if 90 percent of American families complied with medical recommendations to breastfeed newborns for the first six months.
Specifically, it would reduce infant deaths from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, necrotizing, necrotizing enterocolitis, and lower respiratory tract infections.
Currently, only 74 percent of U.S. families follow those recommendations and breastfeed newborns.
The study's authors recommended encouraging hospitals and birthing centers to better educate new mothers on breastfeeding.
This led to an interesting debate among those commenting on a story about the study.
Some said it was difficult for mothers to breastfeed newborns for six months, given the limitations of maternity leave and the difficulties of trying to pump at work.
Others accused those mothers of being lazy, selfish and putting other priorities, such as their careers, ahead of their newborn's welfare. Some mothers countered that their families needed a second income to survive.
What do you think? How does society balance the newborns' welfare with women's right to pursue a career and the economic pressures on a family? What more can be done? How do we resolve this bitter debate and come to a meeting of the minds on this issue?
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Comments
I think the reasons many
I think the reasons many mothers don't breastfeed for six months or longer has so much to do with policy: hospitals taking healthy babies to the nursery instead of leaving them with their mothers where they could breastfeed on demand, misinformation (such as telling moms they need to supplement because their baby lost weight in the first few days of life, when that is normal for breastfed babies), etc. Also, I think more mothers would breastfeed if they had more support from other moms, friends, and family members. My mother-in-law had an easy time birthing and breastfeeding her first two children, who she had in a small town in Chihuahua with her mother and grandmother (who was a midwife) by her side. Her third child was born in Mexico City, she was alone without any family near, and she only breastfed for a few months. That, to me, embodies the effects isolation, and on the other hand, support, can have. That said, I think we should be way more understanding and supportive of all mothers' decisions about breastfeeding or not, and much less judgmental.
Zaidee is right on here.
Zaidee is right on here. When my twins were born, at one of Los Angeles' better-regarded hospitals, I was told by a nurse that I should just nurse them for five to 10 minutes and then send them off to the nursery to be "topped off" with formula or they would go hungry. For all my education on the benefits of breast feeding, I believed her. I was dazed and sleep deprived. She was a nurse who spoke with authority. Luckily, I had a chance to talk with a breastfeeding advocate in those critical first few days who explained that the nurse was trying to get the babies out of my room to lessen her work load. Babies shouldn't be "topped off" like gas tanks. And, for those who might say you can't nurse twins exclusively, I beg to differ. Contact me offline for my tips should you be in this predicament.
Breastfeeding is an
Breastfeeding is an emotional issue, whatever way you look at it. Lots of moms can breastfeed exclusively. It depends on the individual, and takes work. My twins were born full term, but shy of 4.5 lbs. I didn't have much milk. I was sick for several weeks post partum with a hospital acquired infection. My capacity to nurse them wasn't great, but I explained to the babies that if President Reagan could classify catsup as a vegetable, then these few ounces of milk could be classified as dessert with formula. I kept topping them off until, as luck would have it, the woman who took care of my kids at daycare had too much milk. For six months I brought home bottles of milk every evening to give to my children. I was grateful. I was haunted by a story my husband told me about his aunt, who was desperately poor around the time of World War II. Her child died because she got sick after giving birth, and had no milk.
As for my children, they now request catsup with hot dogs on the side for dinner.
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