Why Breast-Feeding Is Best Feeding

By “Awake!” correspondent in Africa

IN Western nations bottle-feeding has long been preferred, but now pediatric experts are trying to persuade mothers that breast-feeding is better. On the other hand, in the developing nations artificial preparations are increasingly being chosen.

Is bottle-feeding beneficial? Why is breast-feeding now being advocated where bottle-feeding has been in vogue? Sound answers can help mothers to choose the method best for their babies.

JUST 100 years ago, practically all mothers breast-fed their infants. So did their mothers for thousands of years before that. Supplements to breast milk were introduced only when the weaning process began.

However, in Western industrial nations, the majority of young women today are employed outside the home and so find it more convenient to bottle-feed their babies. Many also regard breast-feeding as socially backward.

In developing countries, too, artificial feeding is being used for more and more babies of preweaning age. In hospitals, newborn infants are routinely placed on bottle-feeding schedules, because this is convenient for the hospital staff.

In developing countries a majority of infants are still either wholly or partially breast-fed. But a mother in an urban area may breast-feed at night and in the morning; then, while she is away at work, an older child or a relative bottle-feeds the infant.

Since local unprocessed milk or a pap is often used in this feeding, many feel that it is preferable to educate mothers to use infant formula preparations. But there are problems.

The Problem of Sanitation

The effect of poverty is an acknowledged problem affecting health in poor communities. The absence of sanitation and health care, along with the lack of sufficient food and safe drinking water, are basic causes of disease and death in infants. Where artificial feeding is increased under such conditions, the risk of contamination grows, if proper precautions are not taken to sterilize equipment.

There is much less possibility of contamination in breast-feeding than in bottle-feeding. This is why a Venezuelan doctor, when he found that 10,000 babies in that country die each year from gastroenteritis and pneumonia, said: “A totally breast-fed baby does not get sick like this.” Similarly, it has been found in India that infants who were bottle-fed from birth had a death rate nearly eight times as great as those who were breast-fed. Unhygienic handling of baby food is largely to blame for this. There is also another factor. Breast milk in itself provides better protection against disease.

Immunizing Benefits

The newborn infant enters a world that is full of diseases for which it does not yet have immunity. Breast-feeding provides for this in the colostrum that the mother secretes instead of milk for a few days after the baby’s birth. This yellowish fluid is rich in antibodies and proteins that provide an immunity lasting several months against certain bacteria.

The breast milk, too, is rich in antibodies and chemical properties that destroy harmful bacteria and viruses and block the entry of foreign proteins that cause allergies. By contrast, the heat treatment used in preparing artificial infant food destroys some of the elements that fight disease. So the bottle-fed infant has less protection.

Nutritional Benefits

Breast milk also contains the needed elements in the right proportion and composition. Thus minerals, vitamins and other elements can be absorbed without overloading or causing stress to the baby’s immature and delicate digestive system. It is easily digestible.

Let’s look at some of the ways in which this is true: The low concentration of iron in human milk is absorbed in far greater proportion than from cow’s milk. This supplies all the iron a baby needs during its first six months of life. If iron were present in greater concentrations, it would combine with certain protective proteins provided by breast milk, preventing their antibacterial actions. Researchers think that the lower concentrations of iron also contribute to the lower incidence of botulism in breast-fed infants, as larger concentrations may promote the growth of the organism that causes this illness.

Colostrum contains great concentrations of protein and another powerful growth-stimulating factor. This is thought to help in developing mucous membranes in the intestines and in building up resistance against certain gastrointestinal problems.

Babies have a great need for fats to supply energy and promote normal growth. The fats in human milk are readily absorbed without increasing the need for vitamin E, which must be supplied for babies fed on artificial preparations. The fatty content of milk, which causes a feeling of fullness, increases as the baby sucks. This discourages overfeeding and so tends to prevent obesity in infancy. This may also tend to safeguard against obesity in later life.

Breast milk contains high proportions of cholesterol, which is thought to be helpful in developing the baby’s nerve tissue, body membranes and bile acids. This higher level of cholesterol may also predispose the baby’s system to break down this element. It may thus help an adult who was fully breast-fed as a baby to handle the intake of cholesterol without developing atherosclerosis.

Other Benefits

From all that we have seen, bottle-feeding does not bring the greatest benefits to the baby. True, it may be more convenient for the mother and the hospital staff. And the sale of baby foods is certainly big business for the manufacturers. But it is the baby who is on the losing end.

Writing in the Sunday Sketch newspaper, a Nigerian psychiatrist drew attention to another benefit that comes to breast-fed babies. He said: “Many mothers these days are more concerned with developing the physical aspects of their baby. They buy the best powdered milk and feed the baby with it almost from birth, ignoring the very special sensation, satisfaction and affectional bond that develops between mother and baby when the baby sucks the breast energetically.”

The development of this warm, deep relationship, called “bonding,” contributes to the child’s mental and emotional development. The mother, too, becomes increasingly satisfied in giving of herself to her child. This, in turn, equips her to play the loving role of mother toward each child from infancy to adulthood.

Another benefit is that breast-feeding increases the period of infertility following the birth of the baby. This provides a natural means of child spacing. Also, some of the hormones that function in producing milk have the effect of shrinking the uterus and using up deposits of fat that accumulated during pregnancy. This helps the mother to regain her natural shape.

Finally, a report in the New York Times Magazine of July 8, 1979, revealed that “several investigators have also noted a decreased incidence in breast cancer among women who breast-feed.”

Clearly, the wisdom of the Creator, in providing milk for an infant from its mother is greater than that of two generations of makers of baby formulas.​—Gen. 1:27, 28; Ps. 139:13-16.

All of this does not mean that breast-feeding does not include any problems or dangers. Breast milk can be polluted. If mothers take certain drugs, traces of these appear in the milk. When they are exposed to insecticides, the breast milk may carry solutions of these chemicals.

Another consideration is that breast milk is not free. A mother needs to be adequately fed in order to produce sufficient healthful milk. The mother could wisely use what she would spend on artificial feeding to provide nourishing meals for herself.

Of course, breast-feeding does not necessarily come naturally. However, most women can learn to nurse their babies, if they are willing and are given emotional and practical support by others. As the baby sucks, a nervous reaction causes release of hormones that stimulate the flow of milk. This process becomes easier as the mother becomes accustomed to nursing.

Considering the difficulties and advantages, what is the best method of feeding your small child? In most cases, breast-feeding is. It is not simply feeding your baby. By breast-feeding you are truly nursing your baby.

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Bottle-fed infants had a death rate nearly eight times as great as those breast-fed

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Breast milk is rich in antibodies that destroy harmful bacteria and viruses