Deciding whether or not to breast-feed or formula-feed your baby is a matter of choice. Ideally, you base your decision on many factors: the best nourishment, the best start, the best protection against illness, and the best foundation for a healthy life well into childhood.
The practical and time-tested choice for giving your baby not just a healthy start but also a jump-start at life is the simple act of breast-feeding. You may not know about the benefits that help to prevent many of the specific health issues that African-American women—and our babies—face.
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
SIDS is the unexplained, sudden death of a baby from one month to one year of age. African-American infants die of SIDS twice as often as white babies do.
The risk of SIDS is reduced by 50 percent if you breast-feed your baby. Part of the reason may be that breast-fed babies tend to spend more time sleeping with their mothers. This allows for the mother’s breathing and waking patterns to affect her baby’s, helping to prevent any breathing difficulties that could lead to SIDS. Additionally, breast-feeding further decreases the risk of SIDS because breast-fed babies tend to nurse often and sleep lightly, allowing them to awake more easily if they begin to have breathing difficulties.
Asthma
Asthma is a chronic lung disease that causes difficulty in breathing. Compared to white children, Black kids are four times more likely to be hospitalized due to asthma and six times more likely to die due to complications from asthma.
A recent study shows that babies who are breast-fed exclusively—fed breast milk only—for the first four months of life have a significantly lower risk of developing asthma. On the other hand, when babies under four months are given infant formula—which is made from cow’s milk—they have a greater risk of suffering from asthma and related complications.
In order to effectively prevent asthma, you should exclusively breast-feed for at least the first four to six months of your baby’s life. Breast milk is full of lipids (which provide fuel), protein (which is necessary for growth and repairing tissues and cells), and vitamins and minerals. All of these are important in providing protection from disease, bacteria, and infection.
Breast Cancer
While it’s a fact that more white women have breast cancer, African-American women are twice as likely to die before the age of 40 from breast cancer. For each year that you breast-feed your baby, you reduce your chance of breast cancer by 4 percent. So, the longer you breast-feed and the more babies you birth, the more protection you have from breast cancer.
Scientists have found that when you are producing milk, the tissues of your breast tend to be resistant to disease. Breast-feeding may also protect you from breast cancer because the hormones produced during this time delay the return of the menstrual cycle. Breast-feeding not only provides you, the nursing mother, with protection against breast cancer, but if you have a daughter and breast-feed her, she will also be protected from breast cancer—even if she never breast-feeds her own children.
Excerpted with permission from The Black Woman’s Guide to Breast-feeding by Kathi Barber.
These articles were produced by the Black Maternal Health Project of Women’s eNews with a generous grant from the W.F. Kellogg Foundation. Women’s eNews is an award-winning, nonprofit news service and the definitive source of substantive news covering issues of particular concern to women and providing women’s perspectives on public policy. It enhances women’s ability to define their own lives and to participate fully in every sector of human endeavor. To subscribe and learn more visit www.womenenews.org.
Kathi Barber, founder of the African-American Breast-feeding Alliance and author of The Black Woman’s Guide to Breast-feeding, shares these tips for breast-feeding success.
Kathi’s Tips
* Prepare in Advance—Read as much as you can about breast-feeding before B-day (birth) comes. This includes books and brochures on how to breast-feed, pumping breast milk, storing breast milk, how to overcome breast-feeding challenges, nursing in public, etc.
* Get Help—The more support you have during your breast-feeding experience, the better off you’ll be. It’s important to have your spouse/partner on-board with your choice to breast-feed. Studies have shown that the more support a woman has during breast-feeding increases her chances of breast-feeding longer and more successfully. Ask your doctor for the number of a local breast-feeding support group and get the number of the hospital’s Lactation Consultant.
* Be Resolute—To have a good breast-feeding experience, it’s vital for you to resolve in your own mind that “I will succeed at breast-feeding.” If you are resolute in your desire to have a good breast-feeding experience then you will be more mentally fit to face any challenges—social or physical—that may come your way.
The right products can help make your breast-feeding experience more enjoyable. Here are some favorites:
* Bravado Designs’ Microfiber Nursing Bras and Tanks are the most comfortable and fashionable bras out there. The bras are made of 100 percent cotton, with no under wire so it is comfortable to wear. The embellished designs make moms feel sexy and fun. Bravado bras and tanks come in sassy colors and prints. Their whole line of nursing lingerie, including their full figure designs, provide support, shape and style while allowing mom’s to easily nurse their babies. Get yours at www.bravadodesigns.com ($35-$47)
The Medela Single Deluxe Battery/Electric Breast pump is perfect for parents who have to feed their baby anytime, anywhere. The pump gives Dad’s a chance to feed their babies if the Mom isn’t around and allows parents to go out while ensuring their baby is properly fed. The suction control makes the pump easy to use while it’s lightweight and compact features allow it to be easily packed away. Get yours at Target and other major retailers for $65.
