Upon Mama’s breasts

I gave birth to my first and only child, Andoy, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon of Jan. 3, 1974. He weighed 6.1 lbs., was 20 inches long, had  brown hair and pink cheeks – the most beautiful baby I had ever seen, and I couldn’t believe he was my baby, but he was! When I was wheeled out to my room, who would greet me but a good friend who was the manager of a Swiss company whose products included infant formula; he was grinning from ear to ear as he held up two large cans of the formula for my baby.

I breastfed my baby for a couple of days, I think, and then fed him with the infant formula, and alternated breastfeeding and bottlefeeding him. In a month’s time he had gained more than one pound, and more, in the coming weeks, and he was as healthy as can be — I said, thanks to the baby formula. After three months, I put him in the care of the bottle. He was so chubby and looked in fact like the baby in the newspaper ads and on the baby powdered milk can.

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Thankful that I am for the regular — and free — supply of the infant formula for Andoy — I now wonder, though, what with the campaign for breastfeeding going full blast, and worldwide, if I would have given him sustenance purely with my own milk, not infant formula.

The campaign for breastfeeding, peaking this week (August 1 to 7 —  which is World Breastfeeding Week 2007), has been carried by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO), the Philippine Department of Health, and breastfeeding advocates. 

There had been no such strong push for mother’s milk in Baby Andoy’s time. Now, with the media blitzkrieg, mothers — and fathers — are told that mother’s milk is best.

We are told that exclusive breastfeeding prevents deaths, malnutrition, protects the infant from diseases thanks to the presence of antibodies transferred through the mother’s milk and never contaminated, results in smarter children (which claim cannot be rightfully made by infant formula manufacturers and advertisers), and results in lower risk for diabetes, obesity and cancers later in life.

Benefits to breastfeeding mothers are: reduction of blood loss after childbirth; delay in return to fertility, and reduction in risk for cancers associated with female organs as breast, ovaries, and uterus.

WHO country representative Dr. Jean-Marc Olive has said: “It is beyond dispute that breastmilk is the safest, easiest, and least expensive way to protect a child’s health in the vital first years of life. Breast milk offers a newborn the perfect mix of nutrients and is full of antibodies. It constitutes the first immunization a child receives.”

Dr. Nicolas Alipui, UNICEF country representative in the Philippines, told Bulong Pulungan sa Sofitel Philippine Plaza, that the theme of World Breastfeeding Week is “Breastfeeding the first hour, saves one million lives.” The theme, he said, underscores the life-saving power of breastfeeding. “The single act of breastfeeding within the first hour of birth prevents death among newborns. Conversely, delaying breastfeeding increases the risk of newborn deaths.”

He cited the Lancet series on child survival which concluded that: exclusive breastfeeding for six months can prevent 13 percent of child deaths (in the Philippines, this would total 10,000 deaths per year), that continued breastfeeding with complementary feeding for two years can prevent a further 6 percent of deaths (that would be preventing 6,000 deaths per year), and that optimal breastfeeding can prevent 16,000 child deaths per year in the Philippines.

 Studies around the world have shown that heavy economic losses are associated with the use of milk substitutes rather than breast milk. In the Philippines it is estimated that about P1 billion in wages are lost annually in caring for sick babies, 320 million are spent on funeral expenses, and the government incurs 230 million in expenses on hospitalization, P100 million out-of-pocket expenses for health-facility visits and basic drugs. WHO estimated that in a country where many families struggle to make both ends meet, at least P21.3 billion was spent on infant formula food last year.

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Infant formula risks are many. The WHO International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes requires that parents be fully informed about the health hazards of unnecessary or improper use of infant formula. The risks of formula feeding for infants and children are increased risks of asthma, allergy, cognitive development, increased risk of acute respiratory disease, increased risk for infection from contaminated formula, increased risk for nutrient deficiencies, increased risk of childhood cancers, chronic diseases, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

For mothers, not breastfeeding increases risks of breast cancer, overweight, ovarian and endometrial cancer, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, stress and anxiety, obesity, maternal diabetes, gastrointestinal infections, mortality, and side effects of environmental contaminants.

Although so much has been written about the controversy over formula feeding advertising which is awaiting decision of the Supreme Court, this column will touch on this in the next issues, including myths about breastfeeding, among them, the myth of sagging breasts which young mothers do not want to risk.

My email:  [email protected]