by Gina DeBarthe
Recent research has demonstrated the many benefits of breast-feeding. In fact the American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends breast-milk for at least the first year. Breast-feeding has been shown to reduce ear infections, colds and other illness and diseases including childhood leukemia. It also reduces the chances of an infant dying from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. The benefits also extend to the mother as she to has reduced chance of contracting ovarian cancer and pre-menopausal breast cancer. One thing about breast-feeding that is less emphasized is the environmental benefits. Yes, breast-milk is environmentally-friendly.
Breast-milk requires no packaging. Trees don’t need to be cut down to make cardboard and aluminum doesn’t need to be mined. Every 3 million babies that are bottle-fed use 450 million cans of formula requiring 70,000 tons of metal.
Breast-feeding eliminates the need for shipping from a factory to a store to the home. So you don=t have to worry about adding more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere adding to global warming. (Maybe the President should encourage breast-feeding as a way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.)
No animals are exploited in the manufacture of breast-milk. There are no confined animal feeding operations filled with cows, producing waste that ends up polluting nearby streams.
Lastly, breast-feeding helps curb population growth. Breast-feeding suppresses ovulation and reduces a woman=s fertility. In cultures were breast-feeding is the norm the average age between siblings is four years.
Now, here is the best part: not only is breast-milk the most nutritionally complete food for infants, and not only is it environmentally friendly, it is free! Even if you are an adoptive parent you, too, can breast-feed. Just contact your local La Leche League for more information.
Gina can be reached at: GMDebarthe@aol.com.