Formula Fed America

Just saw the trailer for the new documentary "Formula Fed America" and wanted to share.

Formula Fed America trailer

In a lot of ways, it's not new information. We know that breastmilk is better for babies, we know the dangers of formula. But the statement from the first mom you see in the trailer, really struck a chord with me. She states that the argument "I was'nt breastfed and I turned out fine" is not valid. America is not fine.

I just had a conversation with my mom about this - she's the biggest breastfeeding advocate that I know - and she absolutely agreed. Mom wasn't ever breastfed and I always contended that she was fine. She's so healthy. My mom disagrees. I completely forgot about her terrible food allergies. She's struggled her whole life with food related problems. How could I have forgotten?

Sure, she's fine. But she doesn't have perfect health. Would a year of breastmilk have changed that? Maybe, maybe not. Since breastfeeding decreases the chance your child will have food allergies, I think the probability is pretty good that it would have at the very least lessened the severity of her allergies.

Another interesting fact that I didn't know is found on the Formula Fed America website.

"While commercial infant formulas are commonly perceived to be the medically recommended second choice infant food after breastfeeding, the World Health Organization (WHO) states: "The second choice is the mother's own milk expressed and given to the infant in some way. The third choice is the milk of another human mother. The fourth and last choice is artificial baby milk."

As I've said before, this is not my way of making people who were not breastfed feel bad or mom's who didn't (or couldn't) breastfeed feel guilty.

But if we don't change the way that we view breastfeeding in this country, nothing is going to change.

The WHO recommends breastfeeding for a minimum of 2 years and yet in this country, less than 20% of the woman who DO breastfeed are still exclusively breastfeeding after 6 months. Factoring in the women who don't breastfeed at all, we're talking about less than 10% of our population is being breastfed past 6 months. This is just appalling. We have a responsibility to educate ourselves as a nation and change the "norm". We need to refuse to be a part of a the majority and change the status quo.

"If a multinational company developed a product that was a nutritionally balanced and delicious food, a wonder drug that both prevented and treated disease, cost almost nothing to produce and could be delivered in quantities controlled by the consumers' needs, the very announcement of their find would send their shares rocketing to the top of the stock market. The scientists who developed the product would win prizes and the wealth and influence of everyone involved would increase dramatically. Women have been producing such a miraculous substance, breastmilk, since the beginning of human existence..." -Gabrielle Palmer

Another reason to love breast milk

If you have been hanging around my blog for any amount of time at all, you've probably picked up on the fact that I love breastfeeding. It's not just an amazing bonding experience that can't be replicated, it offers unparalleled nutrition and antibodies for the child and amazing health benefits for moms. As if that wasn't enough, I recently discovered a new use for breast milk.

Yesterday morning I noticed that Peanut's eye was watering more than normal and seemed a little irritated. When she got up from her afternoon nap, her eyelid was swollen, caked with crusted gunk and her eye was bloodshot. This was our first bout with conjunctivitis (better known as the dreaded pink eye) so I grabbed my trusty baby book...which recommended antibiotics. I'm pretty proud of the fact that Peanut hasn't had any antibiotics yet and since I'm pretty much a try-a-natural-remedy-first kind of gal I decided to try something else.

I remembered reading somewhere that breast milk can be used to treat pink eye. I figured it was at least worth a try, couldn't hurt, right?

I laid Peanut on the bed and squirted a couple drops straight into her eye. She blinked a couple times and the milk filled her eye. I'm ecstatic about the results! It immediately reduced the redness and washed away all the nasty gunk from her eye. I repeated the treatment twice more yesterday afternoon, just for good measure. This morning the swelling and redness were totally gone but she still had just a tiny amount of discharge, so I "dosed" her again.

Talk about an easy, painless, free solution! I was interested in what exactly causes breast milk to work in this way, so I googled it. In short, there is an antibody called immunoglobulin A present in breast milk that prevents the bacteria in the conjunctivitis from attaching to the eye. (It's the same antibody that is present in tears, which is why allowing a child with pink eye to shed a few tears can actually be helpful in clearing up the infection.) As a result, the bacteria doesn't have an opportunity to grow which will essentially end the infection.

In my research, I ran across this article which lists many other uses for breast milk. I wish I'd known this when Peanut burned her fingers a few months back!

Anyway, thought I would share! Another reason to love breast milk!

Milk Money

Check out this 20/20 video:

Milk Money

Interesting stuff, huh?

I wish there was more exposure to the fact that there are very few women who are actually incapable of breastfeeding their babies. If there was more national publicity about the dangers of formula feeding, maybe it wouldn't be such an accepted practice.

I'm not the type to make people feel bad about their choices. But I wish moms would stop claiming nonsense excuses for why they can't breastfeed. It's a choice, and they are choosing to ignore scientific evidence that their baby will be healthier for the rest of it's life if they breastfeed.

You want to know what I think? Breastfeeding is hard work and it requires a level of dedication that some women are just unwilling to give.

There, I said it.