Tell a friend about the
Militant Breastfeeding Cult

Why I Care

noaimhere

People often ask me why I care so much if a woman breastfeeds or not. Why do I care? I care as a mother because I know that breastfeeding can save a baby's life. Artificially fed infants have lower IQs and are more often sick and hospitalized than breastfed babies. Artificial infant milk increases the risk of SIDS, Juvenile diabetes, childhood cancer, Chrohn's disease, ear infections, and obesity. There is also a greater risk of breast cancer in adulthood for children that are not breastfed. Here's the hard reality: 1.5 million babies died from unsafe bottle-feeding in 1998 and of every 1000 babies born in the US, 4 will die from formula feeding.

As a woman, I care because I know that breastfeeding protects the mother from Hemorrhaging after birth as it contracts the uterus and reduces the bleeding. The incidents of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, osteoporosis, and urinary tract infections are lower in women that have breastfed than in those that feed their children artificially. Breastfeeding mothers enjoy the convenience of always having the perfect food ready and available no matter what the circumstance, even in a natural disaster.

As an environmentalist, several things upset me. We first need to make room for the tremendous quantity of milk cows all over the world. In the United States alone, 20 millions tons of cow milk a year are produce. There is an immense volume of paper, cardboard, metal and plastics wasted by baby milk packaging and in the manufacture of bottles and bottle nipples. In the United States there are approximately 550 millions cans purchased each year! We still haven't even considered the energy used to produce the Artificial infant milk, the energy used by the family to prepare it, nor the energy we use to transport it from around the country and the world. Breastfeeding simply requires about 500 extra calories a day to be consumed by the mother. Breastfeeding requires no outside energy nor does it pollute the earth.

Perhaps you aren't a mother, baby or environmentalist. Maybe you do not even know a mother, baby, or environmentalist. Do you know a taxpayer? Ah, I thought so. I also care as a taxpayer. Did you know that in a 1987 Summary Report from the US Dept. of Agriculture it was estimated that 29 million dollars could be saved each year if mother in the WIC program breastfed their babies for just one MONTH? The US Government buys $600 million worth of formula each year&cha ching! I have not even mentioned the added cost of sick baby visits for infants that are not breastfed, those visits average about $1,500 MORE in the first year of life than the breastfed baby.

The next time you happen across a breastfeeding mother, take a moment to let her know what a wonderful thing she is doing. Not only is she reaping the benefits of that first milky smile, she is saving lives; she is changing the world one baby at a time.

noaimhere is the mother of 3 breastfed children and a breastfeeding advocate
© 2001 all right reserved

[ back ]