Close to the breast

CEBU, Philippines - She had not eaten for days. It was pandemonium. The cry of infants pealed through the night. Here in these hastily constructed evacuation centers, hundreds of families huddled in painful fear after losing their homes and harvests in the flood. The rains would not stop and floodwaters would not ebb. Insurgents plundered relief goods then blocked routes to the evacuation centers. Rescuers were hogtied along the road. In these hostilities, her baby was all that mattered. From her emaciated breasts, the baby sucked silently, oblivious to excruciating hunger around her.

Scenarios such as these did not take place during the Nutrition Month. What took place were extensive quad-media campaigns that even in hostile environs, the best thing to do is for malnourished mothers to breastfeed their babies. God has wonderfully created breast milk such that even if the mother is malnourished, the quality and nutritional content of milk provides for and protects the baby even in hostilities, hardships and famine. In whatever circumstance, God also made breastmilk safe because it never gets spoiled in the breast and that the quality of milk is the same for both breasts.

The colostrum that mothers sometimes consider as “dirty milk” is not dirty. Rather, it should be given to the baby to protect the baby from getting sick. Although yellowish, colostrum is five to 13 percent decrease in neonatal mortality with exclusive breastfeeding compared to a fourfold increase in neonatal mortality for not receiving colostrums.

For newborns in hostile environs, non-separation of newborn and mother in early breastfeeding protects newborns from infections.

If a baby gets sick like with diarrhea or fever, the mother can continue to exclusively breastfeed to avoid malnutrition and dehydration. Adequate quantities of water, sugar and salts are contained in breastmilk that help the baby recover quickly. It is important for a baby to have both foremilk  or breastmilk released at the start of feeding and hindmilk or milk released towards the end of feeding to get a complete meal. The hindmilk is high in fat which helps the baby feel full and satisfied.

Even in emergencies and disasters, the Milk Code bans donations of formula milk because of risks in contamination. There are more dangers of formula milk in emergencies and disasters ranging from contaminated water, not enough clean water to sterilize feeding bottles and even incorrect formula milk with water.

Sagging Breasts.

Despite the miracles and wonders that breastmilk can do to mother and child, there are still misconceptions about breastfeeding. For instance, there are women who think that breastfeeding causes the breast to sag. Truth is, breasts sag because of poor physical support during pregnancy and lactation. To prevent breasts from sagging, mothers can do breast exercises or use firm and comfortable brassiere. Those who say they cannot lactate actually have little or no information on breastfeeding. The inability to lactate is associated with the lack of confidence to breastfeed especially where there is no close family member, friend or other means of social support in overcoming breastfeeding problems.

Cause for concern and alarm is how television shows are subtly anti-breastfeeding. Horrifying is how children are used as mouthpiece for anti-breastfeeding. For instance in a television show called “Ikaw Ang Pag-Ibig,” there is an infant being used as a pawn in the story. Here the baby is shown that it can live and survive without a mother and without breastfeeding. It tends to insult viewers who are made to accept that children of ages five to ten are capable of taking care of babies without the guardian or supervision of an adult. Not once is the baby seen being bottlefed. Even if there is, the story comes out in utter deception that children of age five to ten years would know how to mix infant formula without adult supervision.

Another is television shows and stories espousing independent and aggressive working mothers that tend to downplay breastfeeding, even showing that breastfeeding can be a hindrance for a working mother to pursue a career. Such television shows or movies with anti-breastfeeding themes disadvantage infants and growing children. These children become hapless and defenseless victims of subliminal attacks.

Disaster lurks on the screen. It ought to raise alarm that breastfeeding mothers or even government agencies like the National Nutrition Council have been shy about confrontational commentaries on blatant anti-breastfeeding themes.

God did not create breasts to emaciate babies. It is emaciated minds and hearts of adults who cannot value breastfeeding, depriving babies of being close to God’s breast. It’s all that matters.