I choose Breastfeeding as my topic. Every once in a while you hear a public outcry about someone nursing their baby in public, or some kind of sit in. In other countries you see women just sitting out where ever and taking care of their babies. I will admit that the first time I saw a child, and it was a child not a baby nursing I was in a state of shock. I was called back into the room and the mother explained what was going on. I don't remember what she said, but I do remember thinking it must be working, but she is to old for that. I nursed both of my children not nearly as long as the child mentioned above. My mother did not nurse neither had my older sister so I was the first among my family to do so. They would say okay you can stop now or that is nasty, or they are going to bite you. My babies were always in the top percentile. yes, I did lose the weight pretty fast, and they did not get many colds,as far as asthma ( one has asthma), with obesity we are a little on the heavy side ( we are working on it), and we pray that we won't have heart disease ( Berber, 2009). I hope that it reduces my chances of breast cancer. It has brought me a great deal of satisfaction. I had a boss who nursed her babies and she would say, " I did that!" Speaking of her healthy baby. My husband was very supportive of me. His Mother not so much, but she got there.
Sticking to my first country I did research on, I went with Bolivia. I read an article called Breastfeeding in Bolivia- information and attitudes. In Bolivia this study found that exclusive breastfeeding under the age of 4 months was above 50% ( Ludvigsson 2003). The mother's knew of the benfits of breastfeeding and could tell the doctors what they were. The ladies reported that their families were supportive of breastfeeding. The surprise to me was the grandmothers who came in at a count of eleven being negative out of 447. I thought that the grandmothers would be in total support of breastfeeding.
Womenhealth.gov calls breast milk "liquid gold". There are a lot of very good articles linked to this site. womenshealth.gov/breastfeeding/why-breastfeeding-is-important/
I chose breastfeeding as my topic, too, because I believe it is such a great thing! It gives the baby such a healthy start , in most cases, and does so much to build a strong bond between mother and baby. I think in America we don't usually see many babies much older that 1-2 years breastfeeding, but it seems more acceptable for some than others.
ReplyDeleteBrestfeeding was my chose too, I wanted to do all my children but was not strong enough to stand up for what I desired to do. When the last two children came I put my hand up and gave him the brest and it was the best thing I could have done for my boys. Their medical records are not as thick as my daugthers, their were health babies relly never got sick to much. When they had a cold they were so sad because they were not sick, and to have a cold for them it was awful. I think it's the USA that not comfortable with feeding a child out in public, but it the right and natural thing to do, I myself would not feed after 1year, but to each their own. It was very rewarding to me and my boys, and I glad I did it.
ReplyDeleteKudos to you for standing up for what you believe in! I am a supporter of breastfeeding but I'm also a supporter to whatever choice a mother/family makes. I feel that there are MORE women now who breastfeed rather than formula. I only breastfed my daughter 8 or so weeks do to the annoynance of pumping during my plan time at work (which was only 45 minutes). My son had other thoughts. He would not nurse at all. Come to find out he had really bad acid reflux. Wish I would have known that at the time, I might have held on a bit longer (only 4 weeks with him and I pumped almost the whole entire time). I was getting migraines from pumping and my 2 year old was taking advantage of the time I spent pumping and then feeding him. I often feel the need to explain my reasons to someone when they ask me if I breast fed or not. I wish people were more open to BOTH choices. When I encounter a new mom or mom-to-be I make sure to tell them it's their choice and not to let anyone pressure them into anything. As you can tell, I do feel a bit guilty for not nursing. However, I felt my sanity needed to come first. Also my husband and I were formula fed babies and we produced two beautiful, healthy children. To each their own.
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