There was a time when seeing a woman breastfeeding her child in a public place was embarassing... I could still remember one moment when I was in highschool... I was inside a passenger jeep on my way to school and there was this lady who suddenly pulled up her shirt and breastfed her baby right there and then. without qualms. I felt so embarrassed for her and I thought to myself, how could she not bring with her a feeding bottle and why not feed her baby with formula so she could avoid embarrassing moments like that?...
I wasn't informed about the importance of breastfeeding then... All five of us were formula-fed when we were little because Nanay's milk supply was not sufficient and she said that it was so painful and a lot of people around her encouraged her to just feed us formula. I couldn't blame her. Formula feeding was the "in" thing during those times.
I am so thankful that at this point Breastfeeding Advocates are proliferating... My officemates are all breastfeeding their babies. I especially find inspiration with Ashti April (supermom to handsome lester andrei...)... She'd been breastfeeding Andrei since she had him, enduring all the pain and discomforts this noble job, yet greatest gift to a child from a mother, comes with. I feel so good and my determination to breastfeed our little angel grows stronger each time she encourages me to breastfeed. If only the people around Nanay had the same views about breastfeeding as Ashti April, she and tatay could have saved a great fortune during our childhood days. You see, when we were little, we were often hospitalized due to diarrhea, fever, and other illnesses, which according to the books on breastfeeding, could have been prevented by the antibodies and nutrients from Nanay's breastmilk.
As I read through this book on breastfeeding which ashti april lent me, I am so amazed at how wonderfully and amazingly God had designed a woman's breast. Imagine, according to this book, a mother's milk is perfectly suited to the needs of her baby at a particular condition. For instance, if the baby is borned prematurely, the mother's milk will be composed of all the nutrients that a premature baby will need for his/her development/nourishment.
The book further states: Human milk provides virtually all teh protein, sugar, and fat your baby needs to be healthy, and it also contains many substances that benefit your baby's immune system, including antibodies, immune factors, enzymes, and white blood cells. These substances protect your baby against a wide variety of diseases and infections not only while he is breastfeeding but in some cases long after he has weaned. Formula cannot offer this protection.
Amazing, don't you think?.... And the stories about mothers' having no milk are myths. The woman's breasts were designed to produce milk for their infants, so there is absolutely no way that they cannot produced milk (except in extreme cases when the nerves and glands were altered through surgeries and etc... but even then, some who have undergone surgeries of the breasts were able to breastfeed their babies successfully)... What may be lacking was stimulation and the determination to breastfeed. Accordingly, during the first two weeks from birth, it is normal that milk from the breast is scarce. What mothers should do is to stimulate the milk by constantly feeding the baby. Anyway, the baby doesn't need much milk at this time. What they really need are the antibodies of the colostrum secreted by the breasts during this time. As the baby latches on the breast of the mother and does the suckling, nerves in the breasts send signal to the brain which in return signals the milk glands to produce more milk. The brain simultaneously sends a message to the uterus to contract and return to its pre-pregnancy state/size, which will minimize or if not stop the bleeding.
There are several other advantages of breastfeeding aside from health... It is less costly than formula... Breastfeeding also creates a special bond between a mother and a child.... But the most important benefit it has for me is the fact that Breastfeeding is the most natural and yet special thing a mother can give to her child.
And so, I have decided to breastfeed... So help me God.
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