WHTF: Breastfeeding Best Option for Infants

The Centers for Disease Control state that obesity among children in the United States is at an all time high. More than 12.5 million children and teens are overweight in the United States, according to the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. Obesity is a contributor to such childhood health problems as high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes and asthma. Such chronic diseases cause seven out of ten deaths in children.

But there may be a way for mothers to help babies avoid this problem when they grow up. Evidence shows that breastfeeding a baby from birth to at least age four months will keep a child from being overweight in older years.

How? Compared with bottle-feeding, breastfeeding allows infants to have more control over how much they eat; and this may have lasting effects on children's ability to self-regulate their calorie intake. Researchers also speculate that breast milk itself may have lasting metabolic effects that aid in weight control.

That is one of the many reasons why DuBois Regional Medical Center, (DRMC), promotes breastfeeding for the more than 900 newborns born at DRMC every year.

Why breastfeeding?
“Human milk is perfectly designed to nourish human infants, nothing else comes close,” Judi Withers, Director of Women’s and Children’s Services at DRMC, said. “Every organization and expert on infants in the world recognizes this and recommends human milk for human babies for the first 12 months of life, at least.”

Withers explained that anything else fed to infants as a human milk substitute has to be altered to mimic breast milk. “This happens with varying degrees of success,” she said.

“Take cow’s milk, for example. Cow’s milk was designed by nature to nourish calves and needs considerable alteration to become infant formula. Vitamins and other nutrients needed by humans are added; proteins are processed and broken down.”

“A human milk substitute was needed, historically, to help infants to survive when their mothers’ milk was not available,” according to Withers. Its use flourished as formula was advertised in the 1950’s as the “modern and scientific” alternative to “old fashioned breastfeeding.” “Once research began, the real scientific truth became very clear, that formula does not equal breast milk,” Withers said.

Withers reminds mothers that if they choose for any reason not to breastfeed, today’s formulas are a big improvement over earlier versions. While formulas will never meet breastfeeding’s benefits of disease protection and the physiological benefits to both infant and mother, for the most part, they are a safe substitute when necessary, and superior to using any other animal milk.

Overall, breast milk has the most complete nutrition for infants, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. “A mother's milk has just the right amount of fat, sugar, water, and protein that is needed for a baby's growth and development. Most babies find it easier to digest breast milk than they do formula.”

“While many things are unique to human milk,” Withers said, “the one thing that is unable to be imitated or substituted for and contained in human milk is the human antibodies, which are biologically protective against many viral and bacterial diseases.”

Studies show that babies “who are not exclusively breastfed for six months are more likely to develop a wide range of infectious diseases including ear infections, diarrhea, respiratory illnesses and have more hospitalizations,” the Department of Health and Human Services said.

To help moms
With so many benefits from breastfeeding, DRMC now has 14 lactation counselors to assist new moms. The hospital sponsored a week long, 40-hour conference for experienced nurses to become lactation counselors. After training, the nurses successfully passed a test administered by the Academy of Lactation Policy and Practice (ALPP) to be nationally certified.

DRMC’s newly certified lactation counselors are Mary Shaffer, Meri Orinko, Shawn Welsh, Stephanie Neese, Sherri Antonuccio, Kim Pifer and Miranda Sidorick, all from DRMC’s maternity department, and Rhonda Matson, Kathy McNally, Laurie Learish, Megan Shermer, Gaye Ott, Karen Hamilton and Nicole Kowalyak, all of DRMC’s neonatal intensive care unit. They join DRMC’s first lactation consultant, Kathryn Raybuck.

As lactation counselors, nurses will have the expertise to advise and assist new mothers as they begin breast feeding their infants. The counselors may also be called upon to help a new mother if she is having difficulty nursing, but more often she just supports the new mom if all is going well, according to Mary Shaffer, maternity nurse and lactation counselor.

“We look for how well the baby is positioning itself at the breast, called ‘latching on’ and educate moms about technique, milk storage and trouble-shooting any problems which may arise,” Shaffer said. “It benefits the patient by having nursing support around the clock while she is on maternity with her new baby with a helping hand or sympathetic ear.”

“Our goal, which agrees with the national and international guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization, is to protect, promote and support women in their desire to breast feed. We will work to educate and assist new mothers both before and after birth,” Shaffer said. “We learned a lot during that week of class and are excited to put our knowledge into practice.”

The Women's Health Task Force meets the first Friday of each month, in Room 131 of the Multi Service Center, 650 Leonard Street in Clearfield, and beginning at noon. The next meeting will be held August 7 and all interested persons are invited to attend.