READ ALL ABOUT IT! Why YOU should care about the Breastfeeding Family!
World Breastfeeding Week 2016 theme is about how breastfeeding is a key element in getting us to think about how to value our
1. No poverty: Breastfeeding is a natural and low-cost way of feeding babies and children. It is affordable for everyone and does not burden household budgets compared to artificial feeding. Breastfeeding contributes to poverty reduction.
2. Zero Hunger: Exclusive breastfeeding and continued BF to 2 years beyond, provide high quality nutrients and adequate energy and can help prevent hunger, under nutrition and obesity. BF also means food security for infants.
3. Gender Equality: BF is the great equaliser, giving every child a fair and best start in life. BF is uniquely a right of women and they should be supported by society to BF optimally. The BF experience can be satisfying and empowering for the mother as she is in control of how she feeds her baby.
4. Clean Water and Sanitation: BF on demand provides all the water a baby needs, even in hot weather. On the other hand, formula feeding requires access to clean water, hygiene and sanitation.
5. Decent Growth and Economic Growth: BF women who are supported by their employers are more productive and more loyal. Maternity protection and other workplace policies can enable women to combine breastfeeding and their other work or employment. Decent jobs should cater to the needs of breastfeeding women, especially those in precarious situations.
6. Responsible consumption and production. BF provides a healthy viable non-polluting, non-resource intensive, sustainable and natural source of nutrition and sustenance.
7. Climate action – BF safeguards infant health and nutrition in times of adversity and weather-related disasters due to global warming.
8. Life below water: BF entails less waste compared to formula feeding. Industrial formula production and distribution lead to waste that pollutes the seas and affects marine life.
9. Life on Land: BF is ecological compared to formula feeding. formula production implies fairy farming that often puts pressure on natural resources and contributes to carbon emissions and climate change.
In the past few decades, we have become increasingly aware of the need to radically alter our lifestyles in order to draw less upon our natural resources. Breastfeeding is probably the most overlooked means of contributing to the health of our planet.
Breastfeeding is a valuable and renewable natural resources that is the most ecologically sound food source available. When you think about it, it is produced and delivered to the consumer without using other resources, and it creates no pollution.
The production of baby formula pollutes our land, air, and water and uses up natural resources. BF is not just a lifestyle choice, it is a health issue for mother and baby , a social issue and an environmental issue.
The production and producing and heating and storing of baby formula all contribute to air pollution. It costs a lot of money that could be better spent on education and supporting moms who want to breastfeed. Because of the far-reaching positive ecological, health, and social impact breastfeeding can make on our planet, it is imperative for anyone interested in protecting our children and our environment to do whatever possible to support, protect, and promote breastfeeding.
Lori Jill Isenstadt, IBCLC is the host of the popular podcast All About Breastfeeding and proud owner of All About Breastfeeding a private practice that enables her to meet individually with moms for breastfeeding support and to help solve breastfeeding problems. Allaboutbreastfeeding.biz
