This class will provide valuable information to assist mothers in achieving their breastfeeding goals. Topics to be covered will include preparation before birth, the early weeks of breastfeeding and what to do in response to difficulties should they arise. The class will also include discussion of how partners and other family members can be effective in supporting the breastfeeding mother.
Divided into two class sessions, the class will include ample time for participant questions.
Please call for date and time of classes.
Breastfeeding Benefits to Child, Mother, and Society
Breastfeeding Benefits to Child:
* Helps bond mother and child
* Confers passive immunities
* Protective against measles and other communicable diseases
* Provides optimal growth and neurological development
* Prevents malocclusion/leads to better teeth and jaw development
* Protects against hypothermia
* Provides partial protection against necrotising enterocolitis
* Provides major protection against bacteremia and meningitis
* Reduces the incidence of childhood lymphoma
* Enhances visual development
* Provides protection against neonatal sepsis
* Is less risky for premature babies and babies with low birth weights
* Protects against ear infections
Breastfed babies:
* get sick less often and get illnesses that are less severe
* are hospitalized less often and have a lower rate of mortality
* have a lower risk of diarrheal disease
* have a lower incidence of gastrointestinal illness
* have a lower risk of urinary tract infections
* have a lower incidence of respiratory disease
* have a lower incidence of otitis media
* have a lower incidence of allergies
* have lower rates of obesity
* have lower incidence of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
* have fewer learning and behavior difficulties
* have better psychological development
* develop a more energy-efficient and rhythmically functioning nervous system
* have lower rates of pneumonia, neonatal sepsis, and giardia infections
* are less likely to develop heart disease and cancer later in life
Breastfeeding Benefits to Mother:
* Bonds mother and child
* Provides the mother with a hormone-induced contentment
* Encourages efficient uterine contractions after childbirth
* Allows mothers to lose pregnancy weight and size faster
* Convenient (the milk is always warm, clean and always available)
* Cost effective and saves families money
* Contributes to natural family planning
* Contributes to household food security
* Fosters confidence and promotes self-esteem
* Reduces the incidence of urinary tract infections
* Protective against cancer (breast, ovarian, cervical)
* Lowers the incidence of chronic hepatitis
* Reduces the risk of hip fractures
* Reduces the requirement of insulin for diabetic mothers
* Empowers the mother
Benefits to the Nation:
* Release of scarce medical funds and staff
* Less environmental waste and pollution
* Less demand for agricultural and energy resources
* Less violent society by promoting a secure, well bonded child.
* Less criminals, less jails, less public expense for criminal system
Sources:
* Milk, Money, and Madness The Culture and Politics of Breastfeeding By Naomi Baumslag, M.D., M.P.H. and Dia L. Michels
* Advances in Immunology; Maternal Antibodies, Childhood Infections, and Autoimmune Diseases by Tolf m. Zinkeragel, MD
* Journal of Allergy in Clinical Immunology, Breastfeeding, Maternal IgE and Total Serum IgE in Childhood by Wright et al.
* Scientific American Dec 1995 How Breast Milk Protects Newborns by Jack Newan.
