Think about it, roughly all 5000+ mammals on this planet produce milk specifically designed for their infants. Breastfeeding and nursing is a primal force of nature that ensures the strength and survival in all of the animal kingdom. So why has breastfeeding become the exception and not the rule for mankind? If breastfeeding is the centerpiece for all maternal and child health programs on the planet, why are most families no longer breastfeeding?

Do we as mammals breastfeed our young exclusively until appropriate solids can be introduced as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the World Health Organization, and UNICEF? Sadly, the vast majority do not. So, why the disconnect?

Most people do not even associate breast milk as the milk you feed newborn babies. Most people’s minds immediately dart to the plastic bottle with a silicone nipple and formula when they imagine a baby eating! How tragic. To be clear, formula is not human milk in any form, it is a cow’s breast milk with vitamin supplements added to it. Human milk is species-specific milk, and breast milk is exactly what your baby needs! Calves on the other hand, need cow’s milk.

Most people do not even realize what the purpose of breasts are for (hint- that purpose is for breastfeeding!) But a lot of this common-sense logic has gotten lost in translation because the practice of breastfeeding has all but disappeared and infant feeding practices in society have changed dramatically. I mean, human breast milk has been substituted with a cow’s milk, the female breasts and nipples have been replaced by a bottle and rubber nipple, need I say more about how dramatic a change has occurred?

So let us defer to common sense. By the very forces nature, the moment a mother delivers her baby and placenta, the body is already kicking starting the process of making a lot of breast milk.  Mothers even feel these hormonal changes in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy because colostrum is already present and visible. Your body is literally leaking the proof that breast milk is the most optimal source of nutrition for your infant. So why do mothers and fathers fail to grasp the concept that breastfeeding strongly correlates with exceptional foundational health and future outcomes for their babies?  One reason is education. Our society needs more breastfeeding education prenatally. Another contributing factor is societal, expectant parents do not know of anyone in their family who breastfeeds, and they do not see anyone breastfeeding in their communities. We need to embrace the “Monkey see, Monkey do” metaphor, because it strongly correlates with more breastfeeding.

How about this? Look at the way mother’s give birth in America- in a brightly lit room, full of strangers looking under their sheet every 30 minutes, tapping their feet, patiently strumming their fingernails on a desk, literally waiting to induce or cut you, just so you can have the baby already! Staff members are chomping at the bit to get that baby out, clear the sheets and admit the next mother into your room. The manner in which birth has become a time sensitive assembly line is troubling. The medical establishment views pregnancy as a vulnerable condition if not disease, which warrants constant supervision and medical intervention- I can see how this
troubling theme impacts a mother’s lack confidence and fear to breastfeed after her baby is born (usually after a very difficult birth). When do most mothers start to “worry” about their pregnancy? Stress and doubt usually occurs when birth is imminent because nurses and doctors tell you the clock is ticking.  Tick-Tock. The subliminal message is, you are not enough, and you’ll need to defer to them for help during birth and thereafter (whether you realize it nor not). But that sentiment could not be further from the truth! Look at how perfectly your body has been at conceiving and sustaining your baby throughout your entire pregnancy- why should birth and breastfeeding be any different? Your body worked marvelously to make that baby and your body will do the work to birth it, and feed it.

So, when breastfeeding is not done exclusively or precisely for the first 3 days after birth, you are already telling your body to make less milk and eventually wean. Which is why so many mothers fail at sustaining exclusive breastfeeding shortly after they discharge from the hospital. Most hospital schemes can sabotage breastfeeding unknowingly because maybe you were not breastfeeding on demand and no one told you otherwise. Maybe there were large amounts of separation between mother and baby because the nurses took your baby to the nursery after birth or to administer shots and testing. Maybe there was formula supplementation, and just maybe there was improper breastfeeding technique or an issue with the baby, and an IBCLC wasn’t present to identify it. Talk about hurdles, right?

Common sense is sort of becoming lost in the medical choke hold of birthing and breastfeeding. & there is not enough breastfeeding support prenatally, postpartum and in the communities at large. What is making the problem exponentially worse? The advent and over usage of formula and bottle feeding in hospitals and it’s ever increasing popularity in society.

For this reason, formula is mistakenly equated as the same as breast milk because, hey, the baby is drinking it right?  Everyone does it, right? My baby is healthy, right? I breastfed a little and supplement, that is the same thing right? The problem with this argument is countless studies have all but defined the problematic, negative, and dangerous health ramifications of formula feeding and unnecessary supplementation. 100 years of formula feeding is not enough time
quantifiably, for scientists to confidently say formula feeding is safe just because babies survive infancy ingesting it, because plenty more babies have died as a result of not being breastfed. The goal is to see babies thrive not just survive. Therefore, there is no scientific consensus, or medical recommendation out there saying you should feed your baby formula from the jump…they all say to breastfeed. Not breastfeeding has become a public health issue not just nationally, but globally. So it is imperative that more families breastfeed.

The irony of such a medically advanced society that has become so far removed from the sole purpose of breasts, to what breast milk truly is, and what formula is not, haunts me. There is beginning to be a societal shift towards a return in respecting human nature in its finest moment, as it relates to a new born baby and the birth and breastfeeding. I WANT to have this conversation with mothers and fathers, I want to hear their stories, I want them to voice their concerns, and I want empower them to regain their confidence about birth and breastfeeding. My hope is that you will at the very least, give breastfeeding an honest effort. At the very most,
you will become another mother and father who found success with breastfeeding, and spread the joy and awareness in the same way that I have!