A few Observations on Breastfeeding

It seems that breastfeeding is pretty well-documented to increase the mother-child bond, guard against some childhood diseases, assist physical and cognitive development(Berger, 2009) and generally be the moral thing to do (Waggoner, 2011). WHO recommends breastfeeding, exclusively for six months (Bhatia, 2008). From experiences of friends and a few readings, I realize that this is practiced and understood in many different degrees around the world.

After the birth of her second child, a son, my friend felt she was not meeting the baby's needs adequately. She went to the Chinese doctor and was reprimanded for not eating enough and was not giving the baby sufficient nutrition. The diet subscribed seemed virtually impossible to achieve. She did not want to go this route and probably gain a great deal of weight in the process but she was concerned she was not able to meet her infant son's needs.

 She contacted a Lactation Consultant who advertised in a publication for foreigners here in Beijing. A motherly Australian lady showed up at her door and absolutely put her mind at ease. She was clear that her body was designed to give her baby all he needed and that her milk would adjust to meet his changing needs. She also suggested that supplementing with formula (imported) would not make her a bad mother. 

In countries where the benefits of breastfeeding have been widely proclaimed, there may be a pressure put on mothers to do something that is not their wish, or that emotionally they are unable to deal with from their own history or because of their only state of physical wellness would not be in the best interest of the child (Waggoner, 2011). This imposing of what is thought to be right can bring negative consequences to the mother, child and the family. There was an interesting study in Liberia (Parrot, 2008) where missionaries brought Western medical information into a culture that was functioning well under cultural beliefs. These beliefs were scientifically wrong i.e. semen poisons breast milk, but the society was operating well. The mothers breastfed their boys for 4 years and their girls for 3. This spaced the children, kept the birth rate down and helped for the developing of healthy children. When the fallacy of their belief was introduced, only to the boys because the girls were not afforded secondary education, the women were forced to have sexual intercourse more often. Because they were not aware of the new information they were drastically torn between pleasing their husband and keeping their children safe. As a result they stopped breastfeeding earlier.


Breastfeeding here in China is in an interesting place just now. Historically, breastfeeding has been practiced  and still is regarded as the thing to do. Foreign friends have shared stories of getting a 'thumbs up' when seen breastfeeding by the older women, for example.In the 1970's substitutes became available and were advertised as being a superior nutritional source o breast milk (Bhatia, 2008). Rates of breastfeeding families declined.This same article shows that even though the government has banned the promotion of formula in the hospitals, it apparently is still going on. Also the companies are not to claim that their product is better than breast milk, but that also is also apparently still going on.

However, the contaminated milk scandals that have shook this country over the past months (Bhatia, 2008) have caused mothers to reconsider going through the pain and perseverance of breastfeeding. There is another concern about young mothers who are migrant workers. The government here provides a 3 month maternity leave and an additional month where the mother gets an hour out of the work day to breast feed. This is not long enough to meet the 6 month recommended period,  but it is a step in the right direction. However, migrant workers would not carry that kind of employer support. Therefore they are for financial reasons forced to put their babies on formula and because they are poor use the cheapest form which is the one that has been contaminated. 

How do I pull this together. I do believe that women should have the right to choose what they want to do with their own bodies. If they are forced to breastfeed against their wishes, that surely would not be beneficial to anyone. The mothers with HIV in some countries where clean water is unavailable put their child at a higher risk of water- born diseases than in transmitting HIV.

I do think education that is accessible to everyone should be the consideration. Secondly, a support system that allows the mother to make an informed decision that is best for both her and her baby, like the Lactation consultants, or public health nurses. For my purposes, coming in contact with many different cultures, listen and support where I can. 

Sources
Berger, K.S. (2009). The Developing Person Through Childhood (5th ed.) New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

Bhatia, J., (2008, September 24), China: Infant Scandal Highlights Decline in Breastfeeding. In Children,China, Chinese, East Asia, English, Feature, Food, Gender, Health, Weblog,press

Parrot, A., (2008). Impact of Culture on Lactation Policies: The Case of United States and Liberia. Marriage & Family Review Vol. 44 (2/3) 200-213 doi: 10.1080/014920802177436

Waggoner, M. R.,(2011, Spring) Monitoring milk and Motherhood: Lactation consultants and the Dilemmas of Breastfeeding Advocacy. International Journal of Sociology of the Family Vol. 37 (1) 153-171

Xu, F., Binns, C., Zheng, S., Wang, Y., Zhao, Y., & Lee, A., (2007)Determinants of exclusive breastfeeding duration in Xinjiang, PR China. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 16 (2) 316-321