The Natural way is the best - I

Once again very recently, the breastfeeding week passed on after the aggressive worldwide campaign through seminars, debates, workshops, camps and pledges to popularize the natural way of feeding to the infants but this time surprisingly it re-bounced into prominence as the wealthy Chinese adults from Shenzen, southern China have started a unique trend of drinking breast milk and the Xinxinyu Household Services Company has started providing services of wet nurses to sick and wealthy citizens to  arrange it to meet their belief that the breast milk has high nutritional value.

Infant smartly smell

As we know, the adults can smell the tasty foods particularly when hungry and similarly the babies too, especially the new born, when hungry can sniff out the mother’s milk which establishes that the new born are guided to the food supply by their noses. The tiny so-called areolar glands, often increase during pregnancy are visible to the naked eyes as small bumps around the nipple and produce a fluid with smell that creates an irresistible temptation in infants, especially when in hunger with lot of appetite for milk.

Sometime back, the researchers at National Centre for Scientific Research, Dijon France  have established that once the mother is eventually able to feed naturally the scent could be used to teach the reluctant babies how to breast feed. Also, it is believed that there are roughly around nine pumps or glands on each breast producing milk sooner than the women with lesser number of glands. Earlier, there was a sense that the smell or scent was a skin lubricant but it is a reality, now that the fluid whets the baby’s appetite. In fact, it makes us to believe that the nature has deputed some force and laid down a proper track for the new born to follow to survive.

Many societies in different countries are picking up fast and returning to the natural way

of breastfeeding to nourish the new born children posing a serious challenge before us to launch a national movement on mother’s milk feed. Some  twenty years back, the then UNICEF Executive Director, Mr. James Grant urged the physicians around the globe, ”To make the lead in bringing about the necessary reform in the harmful, outdated habit of allowing the use of breast milk substitutes”. There is urgent need, notes the letter, to remove a false impression about these being equally healthy alternative to breast milk. 

Safeguards

There is absolutely an urgent need to educate people more about the natural way of feeding which is advantageous for prevention of diseases and optimal growth of children. In many parts of the world, the popularity of breast feeding has declined in terms of numbers of mothers who practice it. There have been serious implications of this trend on infant health especially in developing countries and economically deprived communities. The replacement of breast feeding by other methods, especially in areas where the general physical and socio-economic environment is poor, reflects increased illness and mortality in infancy over the past century.

The young infant cannot survive against infection and affective stimulation without adequate and appropriate nutrition protection. This period in life is very critical or  susceptible to any trauma because the human infant is perhaps the least independent, of all the animal species, and unable to function alone, therefore, it must be activity supported and carefully nurtured. In fact, the lactation and breast feeding are part of the reproductive process in all animals and are designed to make this transition by the offspring to extra-uterine life safe. It is simply because the needs of every species are different from one another. Each one has evolved milk and feeding behaviour specifically suited to its young one. Breast feeding is the natural way of feed a baby and once it is accomplished, it satisfies both, mother and baby.

The glandular in the mother’s breast enlarges and towards the end of pregnancy begins secreting creamy yellow fluid called Colostrum. Once the baby is put to the breast, after delivery, this protein-rich fluid is all he/she gets until about the third to fifth day (sometimes later) when the milk comes in. There is often more milk produced than the baby is able to take at first and the mother may be uncomfortable but soon supply and demand are equalized. The mother’s milk supply will change from day to day and it will subsequently increase as the baby grows older and requires more milk. In fact, the two factors are very essential in regulation of the mother’s milk supply. Once a vigorous baby who is able to suck hard and empty the breast thereby stimulating milk production and another relaxed mother who is not under any emotional strain with a desire to nurse her baby. The health of the mother and her diet are the two main factors and the amount of housework she has to do besides her husband’s attitude also play a role in determining success. Conveniently, a mother can nurse her baby for 8 to 10 months and then to wean the infant directly to a cup, thus eliminating the stage of the bottle feeding.