More on Breastfeeding

You know, it takes very little to brainwash a person. Just inundate them with wrong information, through advertisements and endorsement by professionals and experts and viola...you'll see results. The person's opinion will be swayed. And I believe, that was what happened in the past decades where many, many, Many women, truly believed (and without a doubt) that formula milk was actually better for their children.

When our older generations or even our peers advise us against breastfeeding, I believe that they had no ill intent. The notion that breastfeeding is not as good as formula is ingrained in them. Out of my respect for the older generation and to avoid any form of confrontation, I would just smile and keep quiet when they were to say something against me breastfeeding my child. There's no point in trying to argue and make them believe.

There's lot of literature about the benefits of breastfeeding. One can be overloaded with information about the type of vitamins, minerals and many more things that researchers are not aware of. But I like to look at it at a more simple, rationale and logical manner - without going into the details of what is actually in breastmilk. I ask myself a series of questions which will tell me, without a doubt, that breastmilk is the one and only perfect food for my children.

The questions are :-
(1) Which one lives longer? A human or a man-made clone that looks like the human?
(2) Which one has better memory? A human or a computer with high memory capacity?
(3) Which one tastes better? Pure water from nature or NEWater?

If your answers are humans for question (1) & (2) and pure water for question (3), can we say that whatever that man makes will not be as perfect as what his CREATOR made? Yes? Then why is it that we, mothers, want to give our children something that is man-made, less perfect that what Allah swt has given us - for free? Why is it that some mothers think that their milk is not as nutritious as formula?

The saddest thing is that this misinformation and myths about breastfeeding is passed from generation to generation. One of my friends once told me that her mother-in-law said her milk was thin and had no nutrients and compared it to a man-made formula milk and remarked that it was thick, thus more nutrients. And when it was your firstborn, you hear this sort of remark, naturally, you'd succumb to giving your child the one with "more" nutrients.

There's nothing wrong with my friend's milk. Breast milk is not like formula, the milk quality is different based on how long the baby feeds. Thin milk is called fore milk, is the milk that comes out first. It quenches the thirst of the baby and is therefore more watery. The hind milk, will be produced later, towards the end of the feed. The hind milk is thicker and contains more fat. The hind milk will cause the baby to feel full.

So if the baby do not feed for long, he will only get the foremilk and thus, he will be constantly hungry. It is usually advised to feed your baby till your breast feel empty. Similarly, if a mother is to pump her milk for a short time, she will only get fore milk, the thin milk. Be patient, because it takes a while to have a let down.

Boy, there's so much to talk about, this is only a third of what I am supposed to cover and I haven't touch on ubat periok yet! Will do that, next week. I am not sure whether I'll have access to any PC during my 2-day course. So if I don't....have a great weekend ahead! 8)