Breast-feeding: Can it work?

The superiority of breast milk for the human child is not in question. It is the result of millions of years of mammalian evolution and no amount of scientific engineering can hope to even mimic that, let alone surpass it. However, for many a modern woman, breast-feeding is simply not an option because of social pressures. Many women are the principal or even the only bread-winner in the family. They need to go back to work a few weeks, even days, after delivery and circumstances are that they can’t hope to continue breast-feeding after going back to work. In such a situation, they don’t even bother to try.

Breast-feeding: Education and the Two Worlds

The story of breast-feeding patterns is a tale of education and the two worlds that make the planet Earth.

In 1990, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) made the Innocenti Declaration to protect, promote and support breast-feeding. It called for exclusive breastfeeding for 4-6 months and to continue breast-feeding with supplementation for up to two years or beyond.

In developing countries, most rural women, who tend to be poorer than their urban cousins breast-feed. In Latin America, the duration of breast-feeding ranges from 9 months for Brazil to 20 months for Guatemala. The relatively poor of the developing world breast-feed because of a combination of factors but chief amongst those are the still firm adherence to tradition and also the economic factor that, even if they wanted to bottle-feed, they cannot afford the formula milk.

In the rich North, the opposite is true. Educated high-earners in comparison breast-feed more than low-income (usually urban) working class women. This may very well be a problem of education.

How many of those relatively poor women know that breast-feeding protects babies against glue ear, gastro-enteritis, allergies such as eczema and respiratory infections? How many of them know that by breast-feeding they are actually giving themselves added protection against development of pre-menopausal breast cancer as well as ovarian cancer?

Every mother wishes her child the best. It is a natural maternal instinct. However, a woman will not actively pursue a benefit if she does not know anything about it.

The revival of breast-feeding continues apace and this is to be applauded. To succeed, its promotion may need a more intelligent approach.