Concept of breast feeding
/>[edit]World Health Organization
” The vast majority of mothers can and should breastfeed, just as the vast majority of infants can and should be breastfed. Only under exceptional circumstances can a mother’s milk be considered unsuitable for her infant. For those few health situations where infants cannot, or should not, be breastfed, the choice of the best alternative – expressed breast milk from an infant’s own mother, breast milk from a healthy wet-nurse or a human-milk bank, or a breast-milk substitute fed with a cup, which is a safer method than a feeding bottle and teat – depends on individual circumstances.[9] “
The WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life, after which “infants should receive nutritionally adequate and safe complementary foods while breastfeeding continues for up to two years of age or beyond.”[9]
[edit]American Academy of Pediatrics
” Extensive research using improved epidemiologic methods and modern laboratory techniques documents diverse and compelling advantages for infants, mothers, families, and society from breastfeeding and use of human milk for infant feeding. These advantages include health, nutritional, immunologic, developmental, psychologic, social, economic, and environmental benefits.[10] “
The AAP recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life.[10] Furthermore, “breastfeeding should be continued for at least the first year of life and beyond for as long as mutually desired by mother and child.”[10]
[edit]Breastfeeding difficulties
Main article: Breastfeeding difficulties
While breastfeeding is a natural human activity, difficulties are not uncommon. Putting the baby to the breast as soon as possible after the birth helps to avoid many problems. The AAP breastfeeding policy says: “Delay weighing, measuring, bathing, needle-sticks, and eye prophylaxis until after the first feeding is completed.”[10] Many breastfeeding difficulties can be resolved with proper hospital procedures, properly trained midwives, doctors and hospital staff, and lactation consultants.[61] There are some situations in which breastfeeding may be harmful to the infant, including infection with HIV and acute poisoning by environmental contaminants such as lead.[42] The Institute of Medicine has reported that breast surgery, including breast implants or breast reduction surgery, reduces the chances that a woman will have sufficient milk to breast feed.[62] Rarely, a mother may not be able to produce breastmilk because of a prolactin deficiency. This may be caused by Sheehan’s syndrome, an uncommon result of a sudden drop in blood pressure during childbirth typically due to hemorrhaging. In developed countries, many working mothers do not breast feed their children due to work pressures. For example, a mother may need to schedule for frequent pumping breaks, and find a clean, private and quiet place at work for pumping. These inconveniences may cause mothers to give up on breast feeding and use infant formula instead.
[edit]HIV infection
As breastfeeding can transmit HIV from mother to child, UNAIDS recommends avoidance of all breastfeeding where formula feeding is acceptable, feasible, affordable and safe.[63] The qualifications are important. Some constituents of breast milk may protect from infection. High levels of certain polyunsaturated fatty acids in breast milk (including eicosadienoic, arachidonic and gamma-linolenic acids) are associated with a reduced risk of child infection when nursed by HIV-positive mothers. Arachidonic acid and gamma-linolenic acid may also reduce viral shedding of the HIV virus in breast milk.[64] Due to this, in underdeveloped nations infant mortality rates are lower when HIV-positive mothers breastfeed their newborns than when they use infant formula. However, differences in infant mortality rates have not been reported in better resourced areas.[65] Treating infants prophylactically with lamivudine (3TC) can help to decrease the transmission of HIV from mother to child by breastfeeding.[66] If free or subsidized formula is given to HIV-infected mothers, recommendations have been made to minimize the drawbacks such as possible disclosure of the mother’s HIV status.[67]
[edit]Infant weight gain
Breastfed infants generally gain weight according to the following guidelines:
0–4 months: 6 oz. per week†
4–6 months: 4-5 oz. per week
6–12 months: 2-4 oz. per week
† It is acceptable for some babies to gain 4–5 ounces per week. This average is taken from the lowest weight, not the birth weight.
The average breastfed baby doubles its birth weight in 5–6 months. By one year, a typical breastfed baby will weigh about 2½ times its birth weight. At one year, breastfed babies tend to be leaner than bottle fed babies.[68] By two years, differences in weight gain and growth between breastfed and formula-fed babies