The Natural way is the best - II

In human milk the balance of energy, proteins, fat, lactose, minerals, vitamins and water is ideally adapted to the nutritional requirement and physiological nature of the infant and in the healthy mother– baby pair, breast milk will meet all these requirements throughout the first four to six months. Thereafter, additional foods will be needed but the mother’s milk continues to be valuable base for continued growth and development. Breast feeding in many ways provides the natural bridge between intra-uterine life and life in the external world. It can be seen first as facilitating a process of continued gestation and later as a gradual preparation of the infant for more independent existence. 

Importance

Feeding is not merely a matter of supplying the child with nutrition for the growth and activity but it also has a great influence on his personality development. When a young infant is hungry s(he) screams loudly because of the extreme discomfort and feeling frightened and once saved from this situation by feeding feels again comfortable  and begins to associate the feeling with the person who saved him or her. With the repetition of the process the baby learns to trust the person or people in general and starts to consider them desirable part of his/her environment. There is a communication between the infant and the person feeding him/her during the feeding. If this communication conveys a sense of love, warmth and acceptance the infant

develops a feeling of security.

So, once the baby is being breast fed the communication will be between the infant and mother but if the baby is fed with bottle the communication will be with the feeder, no matter whosoever he or she may be. In fact, it is this communication which the two infant and mother develop love and affection. This also helps to develop emotional closeness which may help to prevent behaviour problems as the baby grows up. The breast feeding transmits the immune substance from a mother to baby and protects the infant from the disease which she (mother) has had recovered from. The breast – fed baby will be constipated and if so he may have a movement only once a weak it will be normal in character. The regularity of movement in the bottle–fed baby is not necessary either.

The breast feeding was an integral part of childrearing in all societies prior to this century. But emergence of new eco-system, urban industrial communities, inevitably changes much of this routine. The people became more dependent on market oriented work and productivity. Women entered the organized labour force and spent more time away from the home welcome all around.

Infants exclusively breast fed up to four months have lower sickness and mortality rates and the mortality risk of such infants is one in seventh of others once said Dr. Meharban Singh, the then Head of the Department of Paediatrics, AIIMS, New Delhi in a seminar that ‘the breast fed babies have better immunity to diseases later in life too and are less likely to develop allergic disorders, chronic liver diseases, coronary heart diseases or high blood pressure’. Further, Dr. Singh expressing the opinion said, “the fat accumulation during pregnancy is easily dissolved during lactation and the involution of the uterus is faster besides the less risk of cancer of breast and ovaries”.

Positive Research

Breastfeeding reduces the risk of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder with 5% children believed to be affected in UK alone since the mother’s milk is definitely good for infants health particularly in increasing immunity and promoting brain growth and intelligence. Unfortunately, the people with ADHD have learning difficulties have multi-dimentional problems besides the sleep disorders.

Breastfeeding makes the children terribly smart enough and do better on intelligence tests in reading, writing and Maths than the formula-fed children, as claimed in the studies of the Havard Medical School.  According to the studies, the babies breastfed for periods between less than a month to more than a year found that each month of breastfeeding bolstered a 0.3-point increase in intelligence by age 3 and 0.5-point increase in age 7. Also, the benefits further boosted in babies were breastfed exclusively for the first six months a target endorsed by the WHO but often untenable for working moms.

Earlier, the studies by Maria Quigley from Oxford University, who led the research that the breastfed babies develop very fewer behavioural problems in early childhood than those who are bottle-fed as the these children show more signs of anxiety, hyper-activity or lying and stealing. There could be three different reasons like fatty acids in breast milk which helps brain development or the bonding between mother and child. The Dutch study claimed, that exclusive breastfeeding has significantly reduced the child’s risk of developing asthmatic symptoms.

Of course, there are many factors contributed to the changes in infant feeding practices such as participation of women in industry inadequately accompanied by the provisions which did not support the establishment and continuance of breast feeding. In fact, the lack of awareness in modern societies largely contributed to the change in infant feed-ing practices. It is, therefore, the need of the hour that the mother is well informed about infant and breast feeding with its positive results. Moresoever, the family and community too need to realise that the breast feeding is not her (mother’s) responsibility alone but everyone has to come forward to help and back up the mother in fulfilling her duty. This would definitely prove a step towards the nation building.