BREAST MILK SOURCE OF LOVE AND HEALTH

Contributed by   Dr. Isabel Pezo - HMD East Mission of the Northeast Angola Union Mission, Luanda

Commercial infant milk has created a situation where newborns are being raised with the bottle instead of the breast. Mother’s milk is still the best unless the infant is adverse to it. Here are some of the advantages:

1. Helps establish the mother-child bond and the baby's development;
2. It is a complete food;
3. Protects from infections (diarrhea, pneumonia, ear infections, allergies and others);
4. Contains the other vaccines that the child needs at birth;
5. It's always ready and clean, has the ideal temperature, you do not have to buy it; it doesn't even need energy to be made;
6. Easy to digest;
7. Contains perfect nutrients (vitamins, minerals, fats, sugar and proteins);and
8. Breastfeeding contributes to a 25% reduction in infant mortality, also maternal mortality due to postpartum hemorrhages.

Exclusive breastfeeding for up to 6 months and continued for up to 23 months alone gives children a healthier start to life as it stimulates brain development and acts as the baby's first vaccine.

                       

The practice of breastfeeding is influenced by several factors: socio-economic and demographic; maternal age and education, the mother's work, some cultural practices and the use of pacifiers are frequently cited as factors that determine the exclusive abandonment of breastfeeding. With these factors  causing many to opt for commercial infant milk, it is important to remember that breast milk is the best except when there are known contra-indication.