Maternity Chic

Breastfeeding - Nothing else can beat Mother Nature.

BREAST FEEDING provides your baby the very best start in life through the delivery of colostrum, the pre or ‘first’ milk that carries with it the antibodies essential in the first few days after birth to kick-start your baby’s immune system.

  Courtesy of www.007b.com 

 COLOSTRUM.Comprising a low fat and high carbohydrate content, Colostrum also contains proteins and the five immunoglobulins ( IgA, IgD, IgE, IgG, IgM) essential to developing a strong immune system. Colostrum is mildly laxative, helping your baby to pass their first stool and getting rid of excess bilirubin, a waste product of dead red blood cells, produced in large amounts at birth, thus helping to prevent infant jaundice. Neonatal jaundice is normally harmless andis often seen in new born babies around the 2nd day, usually only lasting until the 8th day, and generally requires no intervention from medical staff in the vast majority of cases. Getting your baby to breastfeed immediately after birth is obviously crucial to establishing a good immune system.

Production of the main breast milk is influenced by the hormone prolactin (also responsible for breast enlargement in the latter stage of prgegnancy). The sucking action of your baby at the nipple initiates the production of prolactin, which fills your breasts with milk ready for the forthcoming feed. Prolactin also contributes to a suppression of the ovulary cycle, though whether this could be regarded as a sure-fire contraceptive, is debatable! Stimulation of the nipple also releases Oxytocin, causing the breast muscles to squeeze the milk down into the collecting chamber behind the areola, ready for your baby to suck. Oxytocin, also released during close physical contact, is said to be a ‘feel good’ hormone, increasing maternal behaviour, bonding and acting beneficially on many parts of the brain. Another reason to breastfeed!

BREAST MILK COMPOSITION. The composition of breast milk can vary from day to day, depending on what the mother has eaten and what she may have picked up from her environment e.g. chemicals, alcohol, viruses, drugs etc. If her diet is lacking in the necessary nutrition, the milk is produced from her own food stores. At the start of a feed, the initial milk is thin & watery, knows as the ‘fore milk’, is low in fat but has a high carbohydrate content. This changes to a more fattier ‘hind milk’ as feeding continues. Human milk is made up of around 0.8% protein, between 3% & 5% fat (definitely Gold Top!), around 7% carbohydrates and 0.2% minerals.

COWS MILK. While cows milk may look the same, it certainly does not contain the same proportion or constituents as breast milk, having less Vitamin E, iron & essential fatty acids, which can make cows milk fed infants show signs of anemia. Cows milk also contains much more sodium, potassium & protein than mother’s milk and the type of fats & proteins in it are quite difficult for babies to digest, leading to possible upset stomach, kidney and allergy problems. Babies fed on formula cow’s milk can also exhibit similar symptoms.

LACTOSE INTOLERANCE. It is estimated that around 70% of the world’s population are lactose-intolerant, meaning they lack the enzyme lactase to digest lactose, resulting in lactose passing undigested into the colon, where it ferments causing bloating of the bowels leading to possibly cramps & flatulence. Lactose intolerance increases with age. Milk should really only be considered as a food for infant mammals, especially among societies that have little cultural history of dairy consumption e.g. Africans & Asians.

BREAST MILK TO THE RESCUE! There is some research in the USA indicating that breast milk can initiate a cell death programme in cancer cells, known as apoptosis and that people with Gastro-Intestinal problems, and those who have a donated organ, can benefit from the immunological properties of breast milk. Breast milk, applied directly to the eye, has been used to clear up conjunctivitis in both infants and adults. Breast milk is truly a wondrous product!

BREAST FEEDING PROBLEMS. There will of course be some mothers who  either choose not to breast feed or, for various reasons, find breast feeding too difficult, but expert advice and help for them should be available from their midwives, who can organise either changing over to an infant formula or using breast milk donated by others and stored in milk banks. It may also be possible to find a sympathetic female friend who would agree to wet-nurse for you. Contrary to popular belief it is possible, by prolonged nipple stimulation, for a woman to produce milk without having just given birth; the sucking action releases Prolactin that stimulates milk production.

BREAST FEEDING TODAY. From the 1950s onwards breast feeding started to become less fashionable, with probably no little help from the bottle formula manufacturers and the spreading influence of TV advertising, infering that only sophisticated mothers bottle feed their babies. However, despite the slick advertising, more and more mothers, with the help of government campaigns, are realising that nothing beats mother’s own milk, containing essential antibodies in the first few days to help your baby’s immune system get started, with the correct balance of fats, carbohydrates, minerals and all the other essential trace elements from the mother’s body. It’s also free, comes attractively packaged and at just the right temperature. What more could anyone ask for!

Not every mother will feel at ease breastfeeding her baby in public but she can still ensure that her baby gets the best nutrition by expressing her own milk, storing it in the fridge, and using it to bottle feed when they are out & about in town. This also gives Dads no excuse for claiming not to have the right equipment when Junior wails for his 2 a.m. feed!

Twenty or thirty years ago breastfeeding in public was frowned upon and mothers were often made to feel that what they were doing was in some way shameful. Thankfully now, attitudes are changing, with an increasing number of baby-friendly cafes welcoming breastfeeding mums, and rightly so; breastfeeding is best for your baby and is a loving natural event that increases bonding between mother and child.

Written from a father’s perspective, someone who, thankfully, slept through the midnight feasts!