Week 5: Breastfeeding Mothers - More Power To Them!

One of the hot topics this week in the North Dakota Legislature is a law allowing women to breast feed in public. Bills presented in the past have not passed the ND legislature leaving it among the four (4) states without such a law.

A couple arguments against allowing public breast-feeding is that it makes others uncomfortable, or it is obscene.

The women that are testifying for the bill and speaking out have valid points. They are also the women who would, and have; breast feed their children in a non-offensive way. It’s the women that don’t care to be discrete that have created the references of obscenity in conjunction to breastfeeding.

According to the Fargo Forum Article, “Dr. Joan Connell speaks in support of the breast-feeding bill at a committee hearing in the state Capitol Wednesday in Bismarck. The pediatrician spoke of the health benefits of breastfeeding and related personal experiences in her testimony.”
According to Karen Ehrens, a spokeswoman for the North Dakota Dietetic Association, the national average of mothers who breast feed their children is 74%. In North Dakota it is 68%. Pediatricians nationwide recommend breastfeeding for one full year because of the health benefits it allows the child.

There are dozens of sites that indicate breastfeeding is beneficial to infants, including the women’shealth.gov site posted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and many other company based companies. These sites list not only benefits, but the risks taken by not breastfeeding. U.S.D.A. offers economic factors that make breastfeeding beneficial to more than just the baby and mother.

The US Department of Health and Human Services sites the following four risks:

HEALTH RISKS OF NOT BREASTFEEDING
· Breast milk has agents (called antibodies) in it to help protect infants from bacteria and viruses. Recent studies show that babies who are not exclusively breastfed for 6 months are more likely to develop a wide range of infectious diseases including ear infections, diarrhea, respiratory illnesses and have more hospitalizations. Also, infants who are not breastfed have a 21% higher post neonatal infant mortality rate in the U.S.
· Some studies suggest that infants who are not breastfed have higher rates of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in the first year of life, and higher rates of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, lymphoma, leukemia, Hodgkin's disease, overweight and obesity, high cholesterol and asthma. More research in these areas is needed (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2005).
· Babies who are not breastfed are sick more often and have more doctors’ visits.
· Also, when you breastfeed, there are no bottles and nipples to sterilize. Unlike human milk straight from the breast, infant formula has a chance of being contaminated.
The four basic points given here are pretty strong arguments supporting this natural activity.
So what’s the problem! If there are issues, post guidelines! Provide private, signed areas in public places! It’s not rocket science.

Although it wasn’t always easy, I breast feed my three children. Not only were there great health benefits I could automatically give to them, but an instant bond was created between us that only grew. And you know what, at 3:00 a.m., the milk is already warm.