A call for tolerance of public breastfeeding
Every year approximately 482 women in Vermont are diagnosed with breast cancer and approximately 92 die from it.
It is not well known now that, since at least the 1600s, breast cancer was known as "the nun's disease." It was once common knowledge that this type of cancer typically occurred in women who didn't experience pregnancy and lactation. One healthy choice women can make to reduce their risk of breast cancer is to nurse their children. By following the World Health Organization's recommendation of nursing each child for at least two years, women can substantially reduce their risk, as well as their nursling's risk, of breast cancer. Breastfeeding also reduces the mother's risk of other life-threatening health problems such as diabetes, cervical and ovarian cancers.
There are two things that society in general can do to help reduce the incidence of breast cancer. The first is to provide a clean, private place for mothers who work to pump their milk. A mother who is separated from her baby must pump her milk on a regular basis to maintain her supply. A restroom is not an appropriate place to produce and package baby food nor is it an appropriate place to feed a baby.
The second thing we can all do is to be tolerant and supportive of mothers nursing in public. Nursing is different from formula feeding; it is normal for babies to nurse more frequently than once every four hours. When they go through a growth spurt they might nurse every hour, this builds up mom's supply and the baby has the extra milk needed for rapid growth. This is why it is extremely difficult for a mother to simply plan when she'll nurse and make sure she is out of the public's eye when it happens, or to pump ahead of time and only bottle feed in public.
As to offering the mother a blanket or napkin to cover up with -- we can trust that every mother knows best how to meet her child's needs. Many babies simply refuse to nurse with a blanket over their head. Breast cancer touches us all; everyone knows someone who has struggled with it. Let's all do what we can to reduce and eliminate breast cancer.
By Laura McCormick. Laura McCormick lives in Shelburne.
Source: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071111/OPINION/711110323/1006
It is not well known now that, since at least the 1600s, breast cancer was known as "the nun's disease." It was once common knowledge that this type of cancer typically occurred in women who didn't experience pregnancy and lactation. One healthy choice women can make to reduce their risk of breast cancer is to nurse their children. By following the World Health Organization's recommendation of nursing each child for at least two years, women can substantially reduce their risk, as well as their nursling's risk, of breast cancer. Breastfeeding also reduces the mother's risk of other life-threatening health problems such as diabetes, cervical and ovarian cancers.
There are two things that society in general can do to help reduce the incidence of breast cancer. The first is to provide a clean, private place for mothers who work to pump their milk. A mother who is separated from her baby must pump her milk on a regular basis to maintain her supply. A restroom is not an appropriate place to produce and package baby food nor is it an appropriate place to feed a baby.
The second thing we can all do is to be tolerant and supportive of mothers nursing in public. Nursing is different from formula feeding; it is normal for babies to nurse more frequently than once every four hours. When they go through a growth spurt they might nurse every hour, this builds up mom's supply and the baby has the extra milk needed for rapid growth. This is why it is extremely difficult for a mother to simply plan when she'll nurse and make sure she is out of the public's eye when it happens, or to pump ahead of time and only bottle feed in public.
As to offering the mother a blanket or napkin to cover up with -- we can trust that every mother knows best how to meet her child's needs. Many babies simply refuse to nurse with a blanket over their head. Breast cancer touches us all; everyone knows someone who has struggled with it. Let's all do what we can to reduce and eliminate breast cancer.
By Laura McCormick. Laura McCormick lives in Shelburne.
Source: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071111/OPINION/711110323/1006
posted by breastfeedingnews @ 7:20 PM
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