The Benefits of Breastmilk Outweigh Any Risks
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Stories in the media about the chemical contamination of human milk have made many mothers wonder if bottle-feeding might be an equally healthy alternative to breastfeeding. It is not.
The choice is very clear: Your own breast milk is, hands down, the best food for your baby - far better than its inferior pretender infant formula. This is the conclusion I reached after more than two years of studying the data on the chemical contamination of breast milk. It's why I nursed Faith for more than two years.
Let's first look at the benefits breast milk offers your baby. And then we'll examine the contamination issue.
Breast milk is not just food. It is also medicine. It swarms with antibodies and white blood cells drawn from your own body. By drinking it, your infant comes to share your immune system.
And benefits mightily from it. Breastfed infants:
have lower rates of hospitalization and death;
develop fewer respiratory infections, gastrointestinal infections, urinary tract infections, ear infections, and meningitis;
succumb less often to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome; and,
produce more antibodies in response to immunizations.
Studies also consistently show that children who were breastfed as infants:
suffer less from allergies, asthma, diabetes, colitis, and rheumatoid arthritis;
have higher I.Q. scores; and
are less likely to develop obesity and cancer.
Breast milk even contains special substances that help guide the development of the brain after birth.
And breastfeeding protects your own health. You will:
bleed less after childbirth;
lose less blood during the chaotic days of early motherhood, because breastfeeding suppresses menstruation;
be at lower risk for hip fracture after menopause; and
have lower rates of ovarian and breast cancer.
And there are practical benefits, too. Breastfeeding can be done one-handed. (Indeed, I'm nursing my son as I'm writing these words.) Bottle-feeding, which takes two hands, makes multi-tasking impossible. Breast milk is so digestible that comparatively little comes out the other end. Less poop. And it has no offensive odor. Really.
On the other hand, the chemical contamination of breast milk is not a trivial issue. When it comes to persistent organic pollutants, breast milk is the most contaminated of all human foods. It typically carries concentrations of organochlorine pollutants, such as dioxin, PCBs and DDT, that are ten to twenty times higher than those in cow's milk. And children who were breastfed as babies have higher levels of chemical contaminants in their bodies than those who were formula-fed. (Remember, in spite of this fact, breastfed children are healthier, less prone to cancer, and smarter.)
Breast milk is particularly vulnerable to chemical contamination because it exists one rung higher on the human food chain than the food that we adults eat. For chemicals that magnify as they move up the food chain - and the most serious toxins do - our breasts offer the poisons one more chance to concentrate.
DDT and PCBs remain the most widespread contaminants in human milk around the world. Other common contaminants of mother's milk include ingredients of flame retardants, pesticides, wood preservatives, toilet deodorizers, and dry-cleaning fluids.
Take these steps to provide your baby with the best nutrition possible:
Breastfeed. Your milk is unsubstitutable. Your baby needs it and will thrive on it. Indeed some researchers believe that breast milk can actually help "rescue" the baby from certain kinds of prenatal toxic damage. The healing powers of breast milk are unsurpassed.
Avoid home and garden pesticides after your pregnancy. These chemicals can easily find their way into your milk through breathing and skin contact. For information on alternatives to pesticides, see Pest Control Without Pesticides.
Eat healthy by choosing a low-contaminant diet. While most chemical contaminants in breast milk are drawn from fat reserves that have been laid down over the mother's lifetime, you can at least reduce your current daily intake of harmful chemicals by:
eating organic when possible. See Why Go Organic and Ten Fruits and Vegetables to Buy Organic.
watching your fish consumption. The U.S Food and Drug Administration advises nursing women to avoid eating shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish. But, the Environmental Working Group and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group recommend greater caution, suggesting that nursing mothers avoid tuna steaks, sea bass, oysters from the Gulf Coast, marlin, halibut, pike, walleye, white croaker and largemouth bass.
Avoid dry-cleaning fumes and other solvents from paints and finishes, glues and other building products.
Support efforts to phase out any and all toxic chemicals that accumulate in mother's milk. To help, contact World Alliance on Breastfeeding Action.
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Adapted with permission from Having Faith: An Ecologist's Journey to Motherhood The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and not necessarily those of
Healthy Child Healthy World.
