Ina May Gaskin - Ina Mays Guide to Breastfeeding

A LSO BY I NA M AY G ASKIN

Ina Mays Guide to Childbirth
Spiritual Midwifery

To all those who work to raise the status of
breastfeeding as a gift for future generations

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Now lets turn to another health authority, the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO ranks the safety of milks in the following way: first, the babys mothers milk taken directly by the baby from the mothers breast; second, the babys mothers milk taken from a bottle; third, the milk of another mother; and last, bottle-feeding of artificial milk formulas. Please note that the WHO does not say that artificial milk formulas shouldnt be consumed but that it is better for the baby if they are used only as a last resort.

Here is a very practical reason to begin nursing your baby. When you choose to feed your baby this way, you are preserving your ability to have a choice about your feeding method. You can always stop breastfeeding and switch to artificial feeding later. What is there to lose? On the other hand, if you begin with artificial feeding and then find that your baby is allergic to several different products (which happens sometimes), it can be quite difficult to switch back to breastfeeding.

It should not come as any surprise that the most desirable milk for a human baby is human milk. It is the most complete and perfect food for babies, just as camel milk is best for baby camels and cows milk is best for calves. Breast milk even tastes better to young humans than other milks do. Ive met many adults who were breastfed until the age of four or five who can recall the taste of their mothers milk, and each remembers it as incredibly delicious. Do you know anyone who buys infant formula because it is so delicious or who even has fond memories of it? I dont.

The composition of breast milk varies from mother to mother, and the composition of a given mothers milk varies according to her babys needs. This means that if your baby is born prematurely, your milk will automatically adjust itself to contain the most advantageous mix of nutrients for him at his particular stage of development. No matter how many claims a manufacturer of a substitute milk formula makes about its similarities to breast milk, any substitute milk, no matter what brand, is quite different from human milk and is an inferior food source for human babies. As the AAP says, the superiority of human milk for human babies stands whether we are talking about the babys growth, its development, or all other short-and long-term outcomes.

Immunologically speaking, mothers milk is medicine as well as food. It contains living cells, many of which will coat the mucous membranes of your babys entire digestive system, protecting him against all kinds of bacteria and viruses. Artificial milk products do not contain any living cells, because anything that once lived in any formula concoction was long since killed during the production process. The protection offered by breast milk is important because, during birth, your baby leaves the sterile environment of your womb and sticks his head out into the highly contaminated environment outside. His system is not fully prepared for this shock, and he can use all the protection he can get.

Exclusive breastfeeding (meaning that a baby consumes nothing but his mothers milk) until the age of six months will continue to protect your growing babys digestive tract, reducing the risk of allergy-causing foreign proteins entering his system. Such protection is especially important in families with a history of allergies, whether these allergies manifest as asthma, a specific food allergy, dermatitis, or allergy rhinitis (runny nose). Some babies started on artificial milk have to be switched from brand to brand several times during the early weeks of life because of their inability to tolerate these products. After the age of six months, babies begin to produce enough of their own antibodies to protect their intestinal walls against food antigens that may cause allergies.

Another strong reason for the ideal of exclusive breastfeeding for six months is that babies digestive systems are just not sufficiently developed before that time to digest solid foods well. Incomplete digestion can cause intestinal pain, diarrhea, gas, inconsolable crying, and, in severe cases, damage to the babys intestinal tract.

Babies who get artificial formulas instead of mothers milk miss out on these benefits and are more open to infection. Strong evidence shows that in all populations, in both wealthy and poor countries, these babies will have a higher incidence and severity of many serious diseases, including bacterial meningitis, bacterial infection of the blood, diarrhea, respiratory-tract infection, serious gastrointestinal infection, middle-ear infection, urinary-tract infection, and late-onset infection in premature babies.