The Black Woman's Guide to Breastfeeding Chapter One - Excerpt Copyright © 2005 by Kathi Barber Published by Sourcebooks, Inc. The Big Deal about Breastmilk: Benefits of Breastfeeding Picture this…you’re at a car dealership that sells a variety of cars ranging from economy to luxury models. You are planning to purchase a mid-range car with a down payment equal to a month’s salary. You’ve done your research and the car you want does not fit your budget. You realize you have to settle for something you don’t particularly care for, that does not meet very high standards in safety. The salesman walks up to you and says, “Today is your lucky day.You can choose any car you want from the lot and drive it home with no down payment and the monthly car note of your choice.” After you stop laughing hysterically and realize that today is, in fact, your lucky day, you walk directly to the top-of-the-line Mercedes. It’s safe. It has all the perks. It’s the color you want and the leather interior envelops you as you sit in the driver’s seat.
If you have the choice of any two things—home, job, mate, meal, friend—you will absolutely choose based on quality and the ability of the thing to meet your needs. You’d choose a home in a neighborhood with good schools and honest neighbors. You’d work in a position that best fits your talents, goals, and financial plans. You’d find a mate you could trust and grow old with. You’d eat a meal that was delicious and healthy at the same time. You’d have a strong, dependable friend who would be there for you through good and bad times.
The point is that when you decide whether to breastfeed or formula-feed your baby, it’s a matter of choice. Ideally, you base your decision on many factors: the best nourishment, the best start, the best protection against illness, and the best foundation for a healthy life well into childhood. The practical and time-tested choice for giving your African-American baby not just a healthy start but also a jumpstart at life is the simple act of breastfeeding. You may be thinking, “Oh, I know breast is best. I’ve heard all that.” But you probably didn’t know about the benefits that help to prevent many of the specific health issues that African American women—and our babies—face.
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
SIDS is the unexplained, sudden death of a baby from one month to one year of age. There is rarely a medical reason for the baby’s cause of death in SIDS, which leaves parents and loved ones in a precarious position between mourning and looking for answers. African-American infants die of SIDS twice as often as white babies do. Researchers are not sure why, but it may be because our babies tend to be born premature and with low birth weights. SIDS has also been linked to a disturbed-breathing pattern in infants.
Although we don’t know exactly what causes SIDS, we do know that the risk of SIDS is reduced by 50 percent if you breastfeed your baby. Part of the reason may be that breastfed babies tend to spend more time sleeping with their mothers. This allows for the mother’s breathing and waking patterns to affect her baby’s, helping to prevent any breathing difficulties that could lead to SIDS. Additionally, breastfeeding further decreases the risk of SIDS because breastfed babies tend to nurse often and sleep lightly, allowing them to awake more easily if they begin to have breathing difficulties. Often, babies who die from SIDS sleep deeply and soundly, and may not awaken if they stop breathing.
Babies who die from SIDS have generally suffered from infections such as gastrointestinal (i.e, severe diarrhea and reflux) and respiratory (i.e., pneumonia and swelling of the baby’s lungs/blocked airways). The antibodies in breastmilk, and the immunities from your own body that are transmitted to your baby when you breastfeed, help to protect against these infections that often lead to SIDS. So it’s not an exaggeration to say that your breastmilk not only nourishes and nurtures your baby, it can actually save his or her life!
Asthma
Asthma is a chronic lung disease that causes difficulty in breathing. When an asthma attack occurs, the bronchial tubes tighten and become swollen, and more mucus is produced in the airways. More than 17 million Americans have asthma, and more than 5,300 die each year because of the disease. African-Americans and Latinos/Hispanics are the most susceptible to asthma. Compared to white children, our kids are four times more likely to be hospitalized due to asthma and six times more likely to die due to complications from asthma.
A recent study shows that babies who are breastfed exclusively—fed breastmilk only—for the first four months of life have a significantly lower risk of developing asthma. On the other hand, when babies under four months are given infant formula—which is made from cow’s milk—they have a greater risk of suffering from asthma and related complications.
In order to effectively prevent asthma, you should exclusively breastfeed for at least the first four to six months of your baby’s life. Breastmilk is full of lipids (which provide fuel), protein (which is necessary for growth and repairing tissues and cells), and vitamins and minerals. All of these are important in providing protection from disease, bacteria, and infection. Not only does breastmilk help your baby to develop its own protection to fight infection, but it also transfers immunity from your body to the baby. This double-action immunity enhances your baby’s first few years of life. If asthma happens to run in your family, as it does so often in our community, breastfeeding can help to reduce the incidents of asthmatic episodes, wheezing, and hospitalization.
From One Sister to Another
“When I found out I was pregnant, one of my main concerns was that asthma runs in my family. I have asthma and a few of my cousins have had lifelong battles with asthma, with complications resulting in everything from hospitalization to surgery. One cousin even had to stop working because of complications from asthma. I was not breastfed and neither were my cousins. I asked my doctor about the chances of my child developing this disease, and she told me that breastfeeding would help reduce the risk. I breastfed my son, and later my daughter. They both developed asthma, but it was very mild--fewer than one or two asthma attacks a year. My son, now six, has begun to grow out of it. All thanks to my breastmilk, I think. I often wonder what would have happened to my children if I had not breastfed. Thank goodness I did!”
Childhood Obesity
By now, nearly everyone has heard that obesity is a major health problem in this country. Between 1990 and 2000, the number of obese adults increased well over 55 percent. The greatest increase in obesity in the past twenty years has occurred in children. Today, one out of every five children is obese. Because of this alarming statistic, many health agencies and government organizations consider obesity a national epidemic. Did you know that African-Americans suffer from obesity, and complications due to obesity (type-2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and cholesterol, etc.), more than most other ethnic groups in this country? Let me give you a brief look into why we need to work hard to curb this problem.
Simply put, obesity develops when you have too much weight on your body. It is caused by many factors, including genetics (if your mother is overweight, you have a greater chance of being overweight or obese), environment (eating and exercise habits, home life), and metabolism (how many calories your body is able to burn). The good news is that obesity is highly preventable.
Breastmilk contains just the right amount of fat and calories for your baby—it’s unique in its makeup for your baby’s individual system. There are no hidden or empty calories in your breastmilk, so you can be sure that your baby will grow in an optimal manner. You might want to think of your breastmilk as a natural form of weight control. Not like taking Slim Fast or going on the Atkins Diet, but more of a natural, individual way to support healthy weight gain and growth. Breastmilk actually helps to prevent obesity, not only in infants but later in life as well. Breastfeeding will help your baby to learn to do something that can help him throughout his entire life: eat until he’s full, not bursting at the seams. A breastfeeding infant learns to regulate his appetite.
And get this: breastmilk contains the right amount of fat a baby needs for growth, and that fat is dispensed at the right intervals for your baby’s development. In essence, breastmilk is not stored in the baby’s system to later turn into fat. Infant formula, which is made up largely of cow’s milk, is meant for an animal that will grow more than three times the size of a human!
About 5 percent of formula-fed babies are obese, while only 0.8 percent of breastfed babies become obese. With prolonged breastfeeding, not only can our community decrease our high rate of obesity, but we can lower our high rates of diabetes, heart disease, and a host of other illnesses that can result from overweight.
Breast Cancer
While it’s a fact that more white women have breast cancer, African-American women are twice as likely to die before the age of forty from breast cancer. Why? We are often diagnosed during the late stages of the illness when treatment may not be effective. We don’t receive adequate information about the importance of mammograms and breast self-exams in the early detection of breast cancer.
For each year that you breastfeed your baby, you reduce your chance of breast cancer by 4 percent. So, the longer you breastfeed and the more babies you birth, the more protection you have from breast cancer. Scientists have found that when you are producing milk, the tissues of your breast tend to be resistant to disease. Breastfeeding may also protect you from breast cancer because the hormones produced during this time delay the return of the menstrual cycle. Dr. Michal Young, a well-respected African-American Lactation Consultant and breastfeeding expert, says, “Breastfeeding prolongs the time frame when there is no ovulation (like in pregnancy) therefore hormonal changes do not impact the breast continually (like during menopause)…Breastfeeding has an independent protective effect against breast cancer.” Someday, perhaps this protective quality of breast milk may assist in breast cancer treatment.
Breastfeeding not only provides you, the nursing mother, with protection against breast cancer, but if you have a daughter and breastfeed her, she will also be protected from breast cancer—even if she never breastfeeds her own children! Other Important Benefits of Breastmilk
It’s the Perfect Food
Breastmilk is made up of at least 200 nutrients—and many others that we don’t even know about yet. It contains good fats, sugars, protein, cholesterol, vitamins, minerals, and carbohydrates—which are necessary for important things such as brain development, growth, energy, absorbing calcium into all the needed places, and infection protection.
It Nourishes the Body—and the Mind
Your breastmilk plays an important role in your baby’s brain development. Breastmilk is designed with all the necessary nutrients to help grow your baby’s brain in the best way possible. Infant formula is made from cow’s milk. The milk of a cow is designed for the needs of a cow and the brain development to live the life of a cow—not a human. Premature babies who are breastfed have higher average IQs than premature babies who are fed infant formula. Some studies have even found that adults who were breastfed tend to have higher IQs than their peers who were not breastfed. Imagine that…providing your African-American baby, who as a minority faces so many challenges, with a jumpstart to success.
It’s Easy on the Stomach/Easy on the Bowels
Colostrum, the first milk your baby receives, helps to coat the lining of your baby’s stomach. This makes digestion easy and helps to pass the meconium—baby’s first stool. Breastfed babies are protected from diarrhea and constipation because breastmilk is so easy for a baby’s delicate stomach to digest. This first milk, along with your mature milk, is perfect for your baby’s stomach. This is especially important for Black women because more than 95 percent of African-Americans are lactose intolerant and should not be drinking milk. Many of us suffer from gastrointestinal issues because our bodies can’t break down the lactose in cow’s milk. Imagine an infant, with a delicate stomach, drinking infant formula—which is cow’s milk. This can cause a number of stomach issues that often last into adulthood.
It Protects Babies
Each time your baby latches onto your breast, he is “re-immunized.” It’s not just a one time protection. With every single feeding your baby receives, throughout your entire breastfeeding experience, your baby is safeguarded. Your breastmilk contains rotavirus ScIg and IgA, which are powerful antibodies that pass to your baby. In other words, your baby is protected, or has reduced occurrence, from many illnesses, including gastrointestinal diseases, pneumonia and respiratory illness (such as RSV), wheezing, ear infection, herpes simplex virus II, urinary tract infection, reflux, eczema, childhood cancer, Chron’s disease, Hodgkin’s Disease, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, and allergies. In addition to defending your baby against these ailments and diseases, breastmilk helps to develop your baby’s own immune system, and build up his own protection. Breastfed babies also respond better than formula-fed babies to vaccines they receive during their early months. Other Important Benefits of Breastfeeding for You
Lose Weight, Get Back Your Shape
Want to lose weight and return to your pre-pregnancy size quicker? Breastfeeding can help! This happens for two reasons. First, as a breastfeeding mother, you produce a hormone called oxytocin, which helps shrink your uterus causing your stomach to “deflate” more quickly. Second, breastfeeding itself burns several hundred calories a day, even up to 1,000 calories burned. It’s almost like exercise!
More Hours in Your Day
Breastmilk is always the right temperature and always ready. You don’t have to sterilize bottles, find the nipple that works best for your baby, mix water with infant formula, warm the milk, test it on your wrist for temperature, or stub your toe on the dresser as you stumble down the stairs in the middle of the night to prepare a bottle.
More Money in Your Pocket
Breastmilk is FREE! That’s money in your pocket, bank account, college fund, or vacation budget. You can save anywhere from $300 to $1,000 dollars each year by not having to buy infant formula, bottles, and other items necessary for feeding. It can save you even more money because most breastfeeding babies are healthier, which means less money toward medications and other treatments for a sick baby.
Other Protection
Breastfeeding also protects you from osteoporosis, uterine cancer, ovarian cancer (high in the African-Americna community), and endometrial cancer. If you’re diabetic, breastfeeding may help to descrease your insulin requirements.
More Rest for the Weary
Imagine a long labor and delivery of that baby you’ve been longing to meet. You finally have him in your arms. You go home and you are exhausted and plan to rest—for a good eight hours. Then, you hear blood-curdling screams from the bassinet. You look at the clock and realize you’ve only been asleep for one hour. Junior is hungry. You stumble down the stairs to make a bottle. You and your husband repeat this process throughout the night. If you breastfeed your baby, you and your mate can get more rest because you can nurse while lying down. You don’t have to get up to sterilize, mix and warm infant formula. Breastmilk is ready always and is always the right temperature.
From One Sister to Another
“When I found out I was pregnant, my boyfriend left—never to return. I was left alone, bitter and hurt. Throughout my prenatal period, though, I grew to love the baby inside. When the doctor said, “it’s a girl,” I looked into her eyes and felt released from a lot of the anger I felt at the beginning of my pregnancy. As I was holding her for the first time, a nurse asked, “How are you going to feed the baby?” No one had ever asked me that before. I told her that I’d use formula. The nurse smiled and talked to me about putting the baby to my breast, right there, in the birthing chair. I wasn’t too sure because I had always heard it was painful. After latching my baby, Cydney, onto my breast—it took a couple of tries—I experienced a love I didn’t know I was capable of. I ended up breastfeeding her for a whole year—one of the best years of my life.”
Finally, Hormones that Work for You
Women who breastfeed tend to be less anxious than those who formula feed, which is largely due to the hormones of breastfeeding. Each time your baby latches on to your breast, two hormones are produced: prolactin and oxytocin. Prolactin tells your body to make milk and is often called the “mothering hormone.” It creates a feeling of love, making you want to be with and hold your baby more. It’s also the hormone that stops ovulation. This can allow you to go several months without the return of your menstrual cycle.
Oxytocin helps your uterus to contract and prevents postpartum hemorrhaging, which can lead to infection or death. It is responsible for releasing tension that may have built up from the need or desire to nurse your baby. It gives you an almost euphoric feeling, providing you a time of relaxation.
Breastfeeding can also act as a natural form of birth control, however, it may not be foolproof and there is major room for error. Using breastfeeding as your sole source of birth control is risky, unless you plan to follow strictly the guidelines listed below. Do not let anyone lead you to believe that if you just breastfeed you won’t get pregnant. In fact, many women get pregnant, while breastfeeding, and often before their baby is a year old. Breastfeeding can be used, with extreme caution, as a form of birth control if:
• your menstral cycle has not returned; • your baby is not receiving any supplements, which includes water, juice, food, formula or a pacifier; and • your baby is not sleeping through the night. ***Please remember that breastfeeding as a method of birth control will not protect you from any sexually transmitted diseases.*** Copyright © 2005 by Kathi Barber Published by Sourcebooks, Inc.
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