Breastfeeding is essential for life
Breastfeeding is one of the most vital determinants of health in our children. It is not just the “best” option, it is fundamental to our growth and development outside of the womb.
Humans infants are born in an immature state and remain helpless longer than infants of any other species. Like marsupials and other altricial mammals, human infants must go through a distinct period of gestation outside of the womb. [1] [2]
During this period of ‘exterogestation’, the milk we receive from our mother plays a crucial role in developing our brain, immune system, gut biome, and nervous system.
The composition of human milk changes throughout the day, the night, the months and the years, to meet a baby’s needs [3]
Mother’s milk is not simply a meal but a profound biochemical dialogue between the mother and her baby. As a baby suckles, their saliva is passed into the mother’s milk ducts where it communicates with cells in the breast to create the exact milk properties needed to meet the baby’s current immunological, nutritional, and microbiological needs. [4]
Breastmilk not only contains the divinely intelligent ratio of fats, proteins, carbohydrates, amino acids, vitamins, and minerals needed to nourish a baby at every stage of development, it is also packed full of antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and immunoregulatory agents and living cells, all of which are vital in developing the immune system of the child. [5]
The Sacred Bond
Breastfeeding plays a significant role in deepening the bond between mother and child. As a mother breastfeeds, she spends countless hours making eye contact and being deeply present with the sounds and cues of her baby. This deep focused attention and relaxation is akin to a meditative experience which can help support maternal mental health.
The release of oxytocin during breastfeeding also aids in regulating stress and mood, and shows a demonstrated reduction in the risk of postpartum depression and anxiety. [6]
Oxytocin, the ‘love and bonding hormone’ also flows to the infant. In combination of the feelings of peace and safety that come from oxytocin, when a child’s physiological needs for intimacy are consistently met, they receive the message that they are safe and looked after, creating a secure attachment that will be carried with the child for the rest of their life.
Breastfeeding is truly one of the greatest things we can do to support the longterm health and well being of our children.
Don’t just take my word for it….
The evidence is astounding
The following data has been compiled in the 2022 American Academy of Pediatrics ‘Technical Report: Breastfeeding and the Use of Human Milk’
Meta-analyses from 8 large studies revealed that breastfeeding for more than 2 months was associated with a reduction in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) of 40%, by 60% if breastfeeding duration was at least 4 months, and by 64% if breastfeeding duration was longer than 6 months.
A nationally representative sample found that any amount of breastfeeding was associated with a 21% reduced risk of postneonatal death (death before one year of life) for all infants and a 31% reduced risk for Black infants.
A meta-analysis of 18 studies indicated that 19% of all childhood leukemia cases could be prevented by breastfeeding for 6 months or longer.
Two population-based cohorts of children from Denmark and Norway with a total of 155,000 children were prospectively followed from birth. Never having been breastfed was associated with a 57% increased risk of type 1 diabetes, compared with being exclusively breastfed for ≥6 months.
Studies and meta-analyses have confirmed that 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding was associated with significantly decreased lower respiratory tract infections (19%), severe diarrhea (30%), otitis media (43%), and obesity (20%)
Breastfeeding has also been shown to significantly reduce risk of asthma, eczema, ear infections, crohn’s disease, and dental health problems
The majority of research studies examining breastfeeding and long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes suggest that children who breastfeed for longer than 6 months have better cognitive outcomes, lower risk of developing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and lower risk of being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.
Breastmilk is truly liquid gold! There is no lab-created infant formula that can even come close to replacing the benefits of breastmilk
Brain Development
During the period of ‘exterogestation’, or gestation outside the womb, the human brain undergoes rapid development.
The human brain size increases almost four fold after birth, compared to the doubling experienced in other primates. Human brain growth does not switch to a slower pace until about a year after birth. [7]
Brain imaging studies show that breastfeeding is associated with improved overall myelination (the foundation for brain connectivity) in breastfed children accompanied by increased general, verbal, and non-verbal cognitive abilities compared to children who were exclusively formula-fed. [8]
Additionally, breastfeeding has been shown to improve developmental growth of white matter association regions, and extended breastfeeding duration is associated with improved white matter structure and cognitive performance. [9]
Benefit for Maternal Health
Breastfeeding may be just as important for maternal health outcomes. Studies and meta-analyses have confirmed the importance of breastfeeding for at least 12 months on maternal health, as associated with decreasing maternal diabetes mellitus (30%), hypertension (13%), breast cancer (26%), and ovarian cancer (37%). [10]
Barriers to Breastfeeding
It is the recommendation of almost all major medical organizations that babies should be exclusively breastfed for about the first 6 months with continued breastfeeding along with appropriate complementary foods for up to 2 years of age or older. [11]
Despite all that breastfeeding does for our species, less than a quarter of babies in the United States are being exclusively breastfeed by 6 months. A number that is far lower than anywhere else in the world. [12]
Why is this?
Unfortunately, 60% of mothers in the United States report that they do not breastfeed as long as they intended to, in large part due to to the challenges of latch, milk supply, and cultural norms. [13]
Mother-Infant Proximity
We live in a culture that has failed mother’s and children. No longer do we live in societies that are centered around raising children.
Women are being separated from their children much earlier than what is biologically acceptable due to the need or pressure to return to work.
We know that mother infant proximity significantly increases the prevalence, duration and frequency of lactation. [14] [15]
We need the necessary cultural shifts to support women to stay home with their babies during the most important first year of their lives.
Formula and Bottle Supplementation
Breastfeeding works on a demand/supply basis. The more a baby feeds at the breast, the more milk the mother will make. Therefore, if the baby receives artificial milk, they will breastfeed less often and this may reduce milk supply. Additionally, supplementation with formula may cause a mother’s breasts to become engorged, which is not only painful but makes it harder to latch and leads to a reduced milk supply. [16]
Early formula supplementation has been associated with double the risk of not fully breastfeeding between 30 and 60 days postpartum, and triple the risk of breastfeeding cessation by day 60. [17]
Bottle supplementation has been shown to cause difficulty with latch which may cause nipple damage and reduced milk transfer, further jeopardizing the maternal milk supply.
Detrimental Hospital Practices
Certain common practices in the hospital setting can be a detriment to breastfeeding success. These include:
recommending formula supplementation
higher than necessary Cesarean delivery rates
delayed skin-to-skin contact
separation of mother and baby
provision of pacifiers and formula samples in gift bag kits.
Practices Supportive to Breastfeeding Success
Advocate for:
uninterrupted skin to skin
protected bonding time during at least the first hour of baby’s life
initiating breastfeeding in the first hour after the baby is born
rooming-in with the mother 24 hours a day
avoidance of pacifiers
support from Lactation Educators and Counselors
prioritizing adequate nutrition
Formula Marketing
It is essential to recognize that the "fed is best" narrative is entirely profit-driven. Formula milk is a $55 billion dollar (per year) industry.
Formula companies are rampantly marketing to women around the world, using a range of manipulative tactics that systematically undermines parents’ infant feeding decisions and compromises women’s and children’s health and human rights.
The following information was compiled in the 2022 World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund’s Joint Report ‘How the marketing of formula milk influences our decisions on infant feeding’
In the digital age, these companies receive a wealth of personal data about women including their middle of the night desperate google searches. They use women’s fears and insecurities about breastfeeding to refine and optimize their marketing strategies.
Despite wanting to breastfeed, a sustained flow of strategic and persuasive marketing messages undermines many women’s confidence in her ability to breastfeed.
A formula ad promising sleep, career, and me-time.
Formula milk companies distort science and medicine to legitimize their claims and push their product. They make false and incomplete scientific claims and position formula as close to, equivalent or superior to breast milk despite growing evidence that breast milk and breastfeeding have unique properties that cannot be replicated by artificial formula.
Formula companies also systematically targets health professionals – whose recommendations are influential – to encourage them to promote formula milk products. Sponsorship, incentives, and training activities are used to influence health workers’ practices and recommendations.
Watch this video where Laura Modi, the CEO of Bobbie formula says that there is not a single study that qualifies why breastfeeding is better.
Bobbie spends millions on advertising that undermines the benefits of breastfeeding because it helps them profit.
They spread misinformation like this because when women breastfeed formula companies lose a customer.
Organizations like Radical Moms Union are calling on formula companies to end to end predatory marketing.
Society is not a bystander – everyone must protect the environment in which women and parents feed their infants and demand the appropriate care, support and protection of rights. The research findings reveal the priorities of formula milk companies and how far they are prepared to go to achieve their sales and market growth. In response, we must be clear about the type of world that we stand for; what is ethical and acceptable; and where concern for our children and their futures guide and prioritize our actions today.
I believe that is our duty to children and to the health of humanity to stand up as lactivists, to help educate mothers about the importance of breastfeeding, and to push back against predatory formula marketing efforts.
I believe that it is our duty to rally our support around mothers, helping them to receive the resources they need to nourish and care for their children.
A radical cultural revolution is needed, one that re-centers the mother…
a revolution that calls on all members of society to be engaged in supporting mothers and the raising of children, one where all families are tended to in their postpartum window, one that prioritizes paid parental leave, doula support, meal trains, and robustly funded lactation support and counseling services.
