There’s More Than One Way to Skin a Chicken…So Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover!

Hopefully my two awful clichés caught your attention, at least enough to read on!  As you can tell from my past blogs, I LOVE breastfeeding and I’m a complete and total “Lactivist”.    There are at least 1000 reasons why I think everyone should breastfeed, including all of the physical and emotional health benefits for the child.   I believe that we need to educate more people on these benefits – women, men, children, doctors, nurses, etc.   We need to educate society as a whole so that breastfeeding is the norm, not the exception and so that breastfeeding is not thought of as a sexual or perverted act.  We need to educate society so that nursing mamas aren’t ridiculed, harassed and/or put down.   I know that so many times in the past, I’ve been made to feel “weird” by some formula feeding mamas.

But that being said, I also know that so many breastfeeding mamas (myself included) can sometimes come off as being a breastfeeding snob – feeling superior for having breastfed (and for some of us who continue to breastfeed!) our children.   

I’ve thought a lot about it.   There are many reasons why some women do not breastfeed.  Yes, lack of education on breastfeeding is a big reason.  Another reason is lack of support.  Plus, there are many physical and emotional reasons why a woman might not breastfeed (notice I didn’t say “choose”…because, sometimes it really isn’t a choice on their part…) So, these mamas do what they think is “next best”*. 

Whether you are a momma who breastfeeds or a momma who gives formula, we ALL have something in common.  We all want what’s best for our children.    At the time, we all made the best decisions we could with the resources and information we had on hand.   Parenting is difficult.  No question about it.  We’re constantly making decisions that affect our children.  All we can do is try our best to make the right decision at that time.  Then we just hope it doesn’t negatively affect our families in the short or long term.  It can be very confusing and frustrating, especially since we receive a lot of conflicting information from family, friends, doctors, nurses and the media.    What all mothers need is support, not criticism.

The point I’m trying to make is that we all have the same goal in mind (we all want to skin that chicken!) – To raise self sufficient, loving, healthy intelligent children who will be productive members of society.  Even though, breastfeeding might be the best way to arrive there, there are other ways to arrive there as well (more than one way to skin that chicken!).  We need to not be so judgmental.  (Don’t judge harshly those books with formula on the cover instead of breast milk.)

Please, keep educating and supporting everyone you can about breastfeeding.  Keep breastfeeding your child(ren) in public.  Keep applauding those you see breastfeeding in public.  There is still much work needed to be done!  But also, please be tolerant.  Please be kind to those who don’t breastfeed.  Please don’t be quick to assume that they made that choice because they didn’t care.  Take the time to listen to their story.  Please be supportive of them on their parenting journey, even if they are on a different road than you are. 

*”Next Best” – Formula actually is not the next best thing.  The pecking order (there I go with my chicken analogy) is as follows: 1.) Nursing baby at your breast. 2.) Giving baby your expressed milk. 3.) Having another person nurse baby at their breast (like a wet nurse of olden days). 4.) Giving your baby donor milk from another mama. 5.) Formula.  ~ According to La Leche League International 

The Benefits of Breastfeeding Beyond Infancy

There are so many benefits of breastfeeding for both baby and mama.   No one can deny that.  The research is clearly there and easy to find. However, most people believe that these benefits have some sort of cutoff date that expires around the baby’s first birthday.  “It’s not normal to nurse past a year”, I’ve heard many times.  Heck, before I became I mommy, it’s something that I believed and possibly had even uttered myself (**I embarrassingly cringe at my own ignorance**).

However, once I had my beautiful daughter and we began our breastfeeding relationship, I knew in my heart that I couldn’t just one day “cut her off” from it.  How cruel would that be?  I started to think about why anyone would even do that.  I realized that it was because of lack of knowledge – about the benefits that continue and even begin with long term breastfeeding and also the misplaced stigma upon nursing an older baby/child.  (The latter I will address in a future blog entry.) 

What’s interesting is that many pediatricians lack the knowledge of the benefits of breastfeeding beyond infancy.  That is troubling to me, since the majority of parents look to their pediatricians as the sole source of information about their children.  It’s also puzzling to me, because both the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians recommend extended breastfeeding.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that "Breastfeeding should be continued for at least the first year of life and beyond for as long as mutually desired by mother and child... Increased duration of breastfeeding confers significant health and developmental benefits for the child and the mother... There is no upper limit to the duration of breastfeeding and no evidence of psychologic or developmental harm from breastfeeding into the third year of life or longer." (AAP 2005)

The American Academy of Family Physicians recommends that breastfeeding continue throughout the first year of life and that "As recommended by the WHO, breastfeeding should ideally continue beyond infancy, but this is not the cultural norm in the United States and requires ongoing support and encouragement. It has been estimated that a natural weaning age for humans is between two and seven years. Family physicians should be knowledgeable regarding the ongoing benefits to the child of extended breastfeeding, including continued immune protection, better social adjustment, and having a sustainable food source in times of emergency. The longer women breastfeed, the greater the decrease in their risk of breast cancer." They also note that "If the child is younger than two years of age, the child is at increased risk of illness if weaned." (AAFP 2008)

I decided to do a little research so that I have information to back up what I know it my heart about extended breastfeeding.  I also figured it would come in handy when I run into the many skeptics who look at me like I have three heads when I tell them I’m still nursing my 20 month old daughter.

I found two studies that show a correlation between extended breastfeeding and higher intelligence. ( Mortenson EL, MIchaelsen KF, Sanders SA, Reeinisch JM. The association between duration of breastfeeding and adult intelligence. Journal of the American Medical Association 2002;287:2365-2371.  And .Daniels M C, Adair L S. Breast-feeding infuences cognitive development of Filipino children. J Nutr. 135: 2589-2595, 2005)

In addition, “Children who are breastfed score higher on intelligence tests than children who were not, with the ones who were breastfed longest showing the most benefit. I.Q. scores, reading and math tests, and reports from teachers compiled during a study conducted by L.J. Horwood concluded that there were statistically significant increases in child cognitive ability and educational achievement based on long-term nursing”. [Breastfeeding and Later Cognitive and Academic Outcomes, Pediatrics, 1998].

As for health benefits – all of the already known health benefits such as strong immune systems, reduced allergies, etc. continue the longer you breastfeed.  In addition, studies done in rural Bangladesh have shown that breast milk continues to be an important source of vitamin A in the second and third year of life. (Persson V, Greiner T, Islam S, and Gebre-Medhin M. The Helen Keller international food-frequency method underestimates vitamin A intake where sustained breastfeeding is common. Food and Nutrition Bulletin, vol.19 no.4. Tokyo, Japan: United Nations University Press, 1998.)

What about the health benefits for the nursing mama?  We all know that nursing reduces a new mama’s chance of breast cancer and helps her lose her pregnancy weight quicker.  But does she stop having any benefits after a year?  Not at all!  Several studies have found a significant inverse association between duration of lactation and breast cancer risk. (Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer. Breast cancer and breastfeeding: collaborative reanalysis of individual data from 47 epidemiological studies in 30 countries, including 50302 women with breast cancer and 96973 women without the disease. Lancet. 2002 Jul 20; 360(9328): 187-95, Furberg H, Newman B, Moorman P, Millikan R. Lactation and breast cancer risk. Int J Epidemiol 1999;28:396-402, Ing R, Ho JHC, Petrakis NL. Unilateral breastfeeding and breast cancer. Lancet July 16, 1997;124-27, Jernstrom H, et al. Breast-feeding and the risk of breast cancer in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2004 Jul 21;96(14):1094-8, Layde PM, Webster LA, Baughman AL, Wingo PA, Rubin GL, Ory HW and the cancer and steroid hormone study group. The independent associations of parity, age at first full term pregnancy, and duration of breastfeeding with the risk of breast cancer. J Clin Epidemiol 1989;42:963-73, Lee SY, Kim MT, Kim SW, Song MS, Yoon SJ. Effect of lifetime lactation on breast cancer risk: A Korean Women's Cohort Study. Int J Cancer. 2003 Jun 20;105(3):390-3.)

The benefits of extended breastfeeding aren’t just limited to intelligence and health benefits for baby and mama.  It extends to their social and emotional well being, as well. “Research reports on the psychological aspects of nursing are scarce. One study that dealt specifically with babies nursed longer than a year showed a significant link between the duration of nursing and mothers' and teachers' ratings of social adjustment in six- to eight-year-old children (Ferguson et al, 1987). In the words of the researchers, 'There are statistically significant tendencies for conduct disorder scores to decline with increasing duration of breastfeeding.'"  (Ferguson DM et al. Breastfeeding and subsequent social adjustment in six- to eight-year-old children. J Child Psychol Psychiatr Allied Discip 1987; 28:378-86).

According to Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC, “And breastfeeding makes the toddler dependent? Don't believe it. The child who breastfeeds until he weans himself (usually from 2 to 4 years), is generally more independent, and, perhaps more importantly, more secure in his independence. He has received comfort and security from the breast, until he is ready to make the step himself to stop. And when he makes that step himself, he knows he has achieved something, he knows he has moved ahead. It is a milestone in his life.”

There you have it – some research to back what you already knew in your heart – that breastfeeding beyond infancy has many benefits. Keep up the good work, mamas!

Welcome to PeekaBOOB!

Welcome to PeekaBOOB!  For my first blog post, I'd like to introduce myself and introduce this blog.  I’m a stay at home attachment parenting mama to a beautiful 20 month old daughter.  From the time I was young,  I always knew that I wanted to breastfeed.  Probably because my mom breastfed me and talked about going to La Leche League meetings and also because an incredible mama of a family that lived in my neighborhood breastfed her children and I watched and learned from her.  

I read a TON during my pregnancy.  Mostly about pregnancy, labor, delivery, vaccinations, swaddling, car seats, baby-proofing, etc.  I really didn’t read that much about breastfeeding.  I figured – you put the baby to the boob and there ya go.  What could be so difficult about that?  Right? HAHA…I laugh at my naivety back then…     

For the first week, Miss T and I struggled…nursing was extremely awkward and sometimes painful.  Fortunately, my pediatrician had an excellent lactation consultant on staff and she showed me exactly how to nurse.  I was one of the fortunate mamas, who after that first week, it all became a lot easier.  I was also fortunate for a very supportive family.  My husband and my mom were my biggest supporters and let me “sleep when the baby sleeps”.  That also helped my breastfeeding endeavors.    At that point, my goal was to try and nurse Miss T for a year. 

However, after I made it beyond the first 8 weeks and I was returning to some semblance of normalcy, I started reading a lot about breastfeeding.  And as I continued to breastfeed and continued to read and learn, I knew that for me, the right choice was baby-led weaning.  I was not going to force my sweet girl to give up something so vital to her physical and emotional health because of a time table that society thought I should be following. 

When my daughter reached her one year milestone and especially now that she’s way past it, I find that I run into lots of people who criticize (read: doctors and nurses who should know better) and lots of people who like to offer unsolicited advice that is not backed by ANY research! 

There are all sorts of other issues that have arisen since my daughter reached toddlerhood, that didn’t exist when she was an infant.   She has now become a “boob gourmet”.  She’ll start nursing on one side and then shortly decide she absolutely does not want that side, but must have the other side.  She’ll literally push one breast away and then sign “booby” for my other side.  

She also likes to play while nursing.  Whether it’s making silly facial gestures, “twiddling” my other nipple or doing acrobatics with my boob still in her mouth, it makes for interesting nursing sessions.  (Plus, it’s what inspired me for the name of this blog, as peek-a-boo is one of Miss T’s favorite games.)

We’re also in the process of night weaning her.  Yes, I did say that I wouldn’t refuse my daughter the breast, but we’re at the point where she is old enough to go 7 hours without eating and this is better for her sleep cycle as well.  She still has access to all the breast milk she wants during the day time.  

I had night weaned her back in December and we were very successful.  However, 3 weeks later I had my first case ever of mastitis and had to “un” night wean her for a while.  I’m told that it’s not uncommon for it to take 3 or 4 tries before night weaning is permanent.

That brings me back to this blog. Though, there is growing support for new breastfeeding mamas (which I think is awesome!) there are way fewer resources of support for those nursing beyond infancy.  So I don’t really know how smoothly or not, night weaning is supposed to go.  I need support! I want to support others! It’s from these desires, that PeekaBOOB was born. 

My goal is to write a blog every week.   I will also be sharing posts and blogs related to breastfeeding.  I invite guest bloggers, as well. 

Welcome to PeekaBOOB.  Please stay a while.

~ Booby Mama