Makes a Change - Organic, Fair Trade and Natural Parenting

Breast is even better...

Up to 21% of breastmilk is actually all about the germs?

It's long been thought that a large component of breastmilk - around 21% - had no real value as it was made up of complex sugars which can't be broken down or used by the human stomach.  This indigestible element seemed to be wasted effort on behalf of the mother, which makes no evolutionary sense as the maternal effort needed to make breastmilk is very significant.  So what's it all about?

A group of researchers at the University of California think that they have solved this question - and in the process given us a hugely important insight into the way that breastmilk helps to protect babies from the harmful bacteria and viruses that they come into contact with every day - and in turn why formula fed infants are more prone to illness.

This special component of breastmilk attracts viruses and bacteria which would instead attack the intestines of the infant.  The nasties are then harmlessly flushed out of the baby in their faeces. 

The researchers are trying to work out the components in breastmilk which could be used in other areas of healthcare, such as in the elderly - and they're even looking at how proteins in breastmilk can attack tumour cells!

More information from The New York Times Science Pages

Breastfeeding Protects Mothers against Heart Disease and Strokes, new study says

A new US study published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynaecology shows that mothers who breastfeed for a year or more were 10% less likely to develop heart disease or have a stroke later in life compared with mothers who didn't breastfeed at all, and that even breastfeeding for a month would reduce the mother's chance of developing diabetes.

Previous research has already shown that breastfeeding has many health benefits for mothers such as reducing her chance of osteoporosis and cancers such as breast and ovarian.  However, this study looked at nearly 140,000 post-menopausal women, with an average of 35 since they last breastfed, leading to the conclusion that the benefits to the mother of breastfeeding will last for decades!

Together with the extensive list of benefits to baby - giving protection from obesity, diabetes, asthma and infections of the ear, stomach and chest, the message that "Breast is Best" is never so important.  But could this itself be a problem?

A recent article on BBC Radio 4s "Woman's Hour" (this link may not work for more than a week) discussed whether the promotion of "Breast is Best" was leading to health problems in babies whose mothers were struggling to breastfeed and where the baby was therefore not getting enough nutrition.  Sadly it is the case that the pressure on our health care workers is still not resolved and therefore there is simply not enough support for mothers who want to breastfeed.

The National Childbirth Trust continues to work to campaign on behalf of parents and babies and supporting the charity is one way in which we can try to change the way that our health service supports midwifery and health visitor services.

Breastfeeding at a distance (of 200 miles)

I was absolutely delighted to receive a goooorgeous picture of an adorable new little eco-babe this morning from one of our customers.  Thanks very much to Louise for sending it, and congratulations!  Louise mentioned expressing milk and it reminded me of this story...

Eco-Boy was still just an eco-peanut when I decided that it would be a great idea to book tickets to the London Olympia Showjumping for Christmas 2004.  It was April, and he was due on the October, so would be around 3 months at the time.  I knew that I was committed to breastfeeding if possible but didn't consider the consequences of leaving a young, fully breastfed baby for the weekend...

Eco-Boy's birth came and went in October 2004.  I was lucky to easily establish breastfeeding and things were going well.  December loomed, however, and at the beginning of the month I realised that if I was going away sans baby I was going to need to lay down some serious milk supplies.  So for the next two weeks I expressed about 3 times a day, freezing little pots of the precious stuff, eventually building up sufficient stocks for Eco-Boy to be left with his Grandmother for 3 days.

So on Friday night we headed down to Oxford, from Yorkshire, where we were staying with friends who were going to the event with us.  Saturday morning saw me up early, extremely uncomfortable and full, expressing milk to try to get some relief.  It very quickly became apparent that my expressing over the past fortnight had dramatically increased my milk supply - whereas even my excellent expressing machine was nowhere near as efficient as Eco-Boy was at extracting it!  The day passed with me using the machine every hour or so, and in the evening we headed to London and sat down to watch the showjumping.

At the interval I said to my friend that I absolutely had to go to the loos to try again as I felt like I was going to explode.  She came with me and it was only when we were both locked in a cubicle together with a whiiir - whiiir - whiiir noise going on that we realised how odd it may look...

We took the London-Oxford night bus home together with a bunch of inebriated, scarily dressed (but well spoken - on their way to Oxford) Metallica fans who had just been tipped out of Earls Court, and in desperation I went into the bus loo and started again.  After three people had tried the door I took a deep breath, popped my head around the door and explained to the rather stunned long-haired rock fan nearest me that I didn't have to be in the toilet, but I was there expressing milk so please ask people who need to use the facility to knock and wait, and I would come out.  Looking back on that, I wonder at myself, but there you are.

By Sunday morning things were not looking better.  I was feeling awful and instead of our normal lunch-and-go we decided to head straight up to Yorkshire.  I was at the point of eyeing up babies in prams and visualising popping them onto my boob just to relieve the pain!

Finally we got to Grandmother's house and finally I was able to whisk away my little boy and give him a good feed, whether he was hungry or not!  I remember the last few miles to the house, chanting to myself under my breath "I will not explode... I can handle the pain... I will not explode..."

So!  Here are my top 5 tips for expressing breastmilk:

• Expressing breastmilk will increase your milk supply.  Take this into consideration.
• Even the best electric pump is not as efficient as your baby is.  Don't rely on it as a substitute if you leave your baby for any length of time.
• Actually, leaving your breastfed baby for any real length of time is rarely an option ;-)
• Tipping precious breastmilk down the sink while you are away will make you cry.  Accept it.

• But seriously - expressing too much or suddenly changing how often you breastfeed can lead to cracked and / or very sore nipples, mastitis (nasty) and supply problems.  If you can, don't.

Breastfeeding Awareness Week

It's Breastfeeding Awareness Week this week, and I was surprised to find myself looking at a cute little baby peeking out of a poster on the back of a bus last night, with a breastfeeding awareness message next to it.

The message was "Breastfeeding - It's Your Choice" - not a phrase likely to directly convert anyone, I felt, but I was pleased, all the same, to see that the NHS was doing something.  And maybe it would be enough to get a few people to think about it who may not otherwise have done so.

It got me thinking back to Mozambique, where I visited in January.  The region that I was in was 100% baby-formula free (it was one of the most remote parts of Africa and as yet had not been targeted by formula companies).  All babies were breastfed and as such given some protection against the many diseases found in the Mozambique bush.

I was interested to see that while women wore clothing which covered their tops, whether with or without babies, breastfeeding at any time was considered normal - in fact, not even considered - it was just "done"!  I saw one lady talking to a group of 4 or 5 men, with her little one of her back in a sling, then when the baby started to grumble she simply slipped him round to the front, popped out a boob and let him get on with it.

I felt that in our "developed" society it is so sad that we continue to need to have Breastfeeding Awareness Weeks.  It's a shame that we continue to have to fight for the right to feed our babies how we want to - to breastfeed in public or to bottle feed without being made to feel like we are not doing the "best thing" for our offspring.  It's a shame that the skill of breastfeeding is so often no longer passed from mother to daughter, but needs the new mother to push her midwife or health visitor to help her through what is often a difficult skill to learn - although, of course, a wonderful experience for most people.

I hope that the current trend towards more natural parenting will help with the uptake of breastfeeding and extended breastfeeding and I look forward to the day when we will become an even more developed society which realises that no matter what we have created, we've not yet created anything as good for babies as breastmilk.  And allowing feeding to occur as required is just part of the circle of life.