Karen Irvine
Special to the Tribune/Advisor
When I first heard the theme for World Breastfeeding week Oct. 1-7: “Foundations of Life,” I had a vision of a tree, very tall with far-reaching roots. Those roots made the tree able to grow tall and strong by soaking up the water and nutrients from the earth; spreading through the ground for support (the bigger the base the more stable the structure, as my dad always said); and stabilizing the ground where the tree grew, for itself and all the plants around it.
In celebrating motherhood, my job and my joy is to share how breastfeeding can be a really important part of the root system that can hold a person up, grow them tall and strong, and help them fight adversity when it comes their way.
Many people are not aware of why breast milk is so awesome.
Here are only a few of the most amazing things about breastfeeding that have been discovered more recently are:
1.) When babies nurse, they send a message through their saliva into mom’s breast, signalling the mother to pass on, through her breast milk, infection-fighting agents exactly matched to whatever illness the baby has been exposed to.
2.) Breast milk changes to suit what the baby needs at each feed, and is different each time he nurses- sometimes just a thirst-quenching drink, just like when you or I would have a sip of water; sometimes for a full meal — our “turkey dinner” — and sometimes just to calm down, like when we need comfort or connection with a loved one.
3.) Breast milk can also help protect a child from diabetes, heart disease, ear, chest and tummy infections, and even some cancers. New research is showing that breast milk can help minimize weaknesses in our genetics.
4.) And, because baby and you both get a surge of oxytocin — the hormone of love — each time you nurse, you are both a little more “chill” when you have that down time. Plus, it helps you sleep better and decreases your chances for depression.
So, yes, breastfeeding is amazing. It’s definitely something you want to try out, for you and your baby. It’s an important part of the root system and will help your baby in his emotional, physical and mental life well into adulthood. But how does that play out in the real world when we get so many messages that we aren’t capable of fully breastfeeding, or when things do not work out they way we had planned?
Get help. Get help. Get support, and reliable information, and make it work for you.
Find your community/peer support people, someone who’s there now, and someone who has some wisdom of having already gone through it.
Pregnancy Outreach, Public Health Nurses, BC Lactation Consultants Association and the nurse hotline, 8-1-1, are professional supports to help you.
Breastfeeding should be enjoyable, something you look forward to, but when you feel like its not, that’s not bad! There is someone out there who will listen and help you find your solution. And if it doesn’t turn out the way you expected, for whatever reason, find the things you can do for your baby, with lots of love, good nutrition, time together, family and friends, fun activity, and healthy boundaries, to build that super, wide-reaching foundation that will help your child weather the storms and grow tall and strong.
Karen Irvine is a Certified Lactation Consultant with the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners.
