Before I had my first child, I was very determined that I would breastfeed.
Why? Well, I had read all those media reports on how breastfeeding can help reduce the chances of getting allergies. I had suffered bad eczema in my late teens (it erupted when I was in junior college) & then again in my mid-20s.
Both episodes, which lasted for years & had me watching every thing I ate or came into contact with, were triggered by stress. It was awful! I was determined that I would do all I can physically to prevent passing ion this horrid disease to my children.
Dh went along with me since he had no arguments against it. But when we attended a ante-natal talk conducted by Mt Alvernia Hospital, he was sold!
Why?
The lady conducting the class had stated very matter-of-factly that breastmilk changes with the baby as baby grows! Isn’t that wonderful? It is a live liquid! It changes with the baby’s needs! So that means milk produced for a newborn is different from milk produced when the baby is 3mths old & definitely different when the baby grows to be a toddler! Wow!
We have come a long way from that particular class way back in 1998. I have breastfed all 5 of our children, for as long as 12mths to a currently still nursing-like-there’s-no-tomorrow 18mth old toddler.
Besides the fact that breastmilk changes with the baby’s needs (no need for follow-on formula or powdered mik for 1yr olds as marketed by the formula companies!), there is a very simple reason why I breastfeed…..
It is what God intended babies to feed on!
The Lord God Almighty who designed & created women to be able to bear a child, to be able to sustain life & grow it until a time deemed right to birth him/her, did not forget about the little one’s nourishment out of the womb.
He made women’s bodies able to continue to nourish the little precious gift immediately upon birth. He even made sure that the baby has enough reserves to last as the mother’s body provided nutrient-, antibody-rich colostrum for the baby till the mature milk comes in (3 – 5 days after birth *if* nursed regularly round the clock).
Isn’t His design perfect & marvellous?
There’s no need for any supplementation of any kind! But sadly, many women sabotaged or are sabotaged in their initial efforts to breastfeed – through ignorance. Ignorance of the mothers themselves, ignorance of the medical community, ignorance of the well meaning friends & relatives. And so they had to either supplement with formula milk or they stop breastfeedingcompletely – all the while chanting the oft heard reason of “not enough milk”.
Don’t get me wrong. There are women who can’t breastfeed or who can’t produce enough milk – these are the consequencs of living in a fallen world. But these are the minority. Most women fail because they give up too easily due to ignorance and some, due to selfish reasons.
I will not go into the medical reasons or give you links & quotes from studies showing you how superior breastfeeding is. I think these can be easily called up when you google for it. Dr Jack Newman, M.D., the La Le Leche Organisation or our very own Breastfeeding Mothers’ Support Group (Singapore) has tons of information on this.
My purpose in writing this is just to point out that God has created a perfect food for our babies & that is one GREAT reason to breastfeed!