Nursing Your Baby​—Burden or Pleasure?

EVERY second, on the average, some four babies are born. Within the hour, there will be more than 14,000 new mouths to feed​—in a week over 2,000,000! How will they be fed?

Most of them will be nursed. Every day babies consume millions of gallons of mother’s milk. Yet the trend is toward substituting preparations of cow’s milk, which infants suck from a bottle.

In places such as the United States the vast majority of mothers bottle-feed their babies. The World Health Organization, however, calls this trend toward artificial feeding “one of the major nutritional problems of the world today.” Why?

An Unfortunate Trend

For one reason, breast milk is unquestionably better for the child than cow’s milk.a Another reason is economic. About 87 percent of all babies are born in areas of the world where most people simply cannot afford to buy cow’s milk.

Pointing to these reasons, a WHO report of last year said: “Not only is breast milk unique and impossible to imitate​—despite manufacturers’ claims—​but the cost of cows’ milk preparations remains beyond the means of the average family of the developing world.”

For a laborer in the developing world to buy cow’s milk for a baby may require up to 50 percent of his daily wage. Thus, should the bottle-feeding trend continue to spread, the critical food shortage would grow even worse. “If all the women in mainland Asia were to cease breast feeding,” the WHO report noted, “an extra herd of 114,000,000 cattle would be needed to make good this loss.”

New Method Becomes Popular

When did the bottle-feeding trend start? Why has it become popular?

The time is identified by a true-life experience. In 1907 an American girl, on seeing a neighbor give her baby a bottle, ran home to ask her mother the reason for this peculiar thing. Later, in the 1920’s, this same girl, while serving as a nurse, said that she was surprised when she saw a mother breast-feeding. The change from nursing babies to feeding them artificially occurred that quickly in parts of the United States.

The development of cow’s milk formulas, refrigeration, sterilization and extensive advertising was largely responsible. Few families apparently wanted to appear old-fashioned, so they accepted the new method of feeding. Many mothers found that it fit in with their new, industrialized life-style.

But with the changing life-style and the popularity of bottle-feeding, a strange circumstance was noted. The Encyclopedia Americana (1927) explained: “Modern life​—and especially city life—​has in some way rendered a certain proportion of women incapable of producing breast milk for their offspring.”

More recently, a study made in India found that over 80 percent of the highly educated women were unable to breast-feed for as long as six months. However, among poor mothers such failure to breast-feed was practically unknown.

Understandably, a mother who has difficulty in nursing, or fears that she will have, may consider nursing a burden. But why does the “modern” woman often fail at nursing, while others take it for granted and enjoy nursing their babies? How has modern life interfered with this basic function of a mother?

Big Obstacles to Nursing

The obstacles are greater than you may have imagined. The methods in modern hospitals especially hinder nursing. A new mother routinely is given shots of hormones to dry up her milk supply. Even when she is able to avoid these, she may have overwhelming obstacles.

During childbirth, for example, a mother often receives large amounts of anesthesia, putting her in an unconscious or drugged state. The drugs affect the baby too, making it dull and sluggish for days. Thus it sucks poorly, and since it is the sucking that stimulates milk production, this production is hindered.

Also, the baby is usually taken away from the mother and kept in a central nursery. Since it is extra work to bring the baby to its mother for frequent feedings, nurses may give supplementary bottle feedings. As a result, the baby is not hungry and so fails to suck the breast vigorously, hindering further the mother’s milk production. It is no wonder that she may in discouragement give up trying to nurse.

Recently, in a letter to the publishers of Awake! one mother explained: “Breast-feeding my son brought on all sorts of uncomfortable feelings with my doctor, nurses in the hospital, relatives and friends. All these people acted at times as though I was repulsive for doing a very natural thing. My doctor was against breast-feeding from the beginning, and the nurses in the hospital weren’t any help with their rigid schedule.”

Such experiences are common. In fact, Dr. Jean Mayer, professor of nutrition at Harvard University, admitted: “In male-dominated hospitals, breast feeding is officially discouraged.”

Imagine how such discouragement from professional people can affect a mother. She may develop anxiety, embarrassment, doubt about her ability to nurse, or even feel that nursing is “animalistic.” Any such negative feelings can stifle her body’s milk-producing functions.

Actually the most helpful factor in successful nursing is a calm, confident frame of mind. Most mothers in the world have such a frame of mind, since where they live nursing is accepted as the only way to feed a baby. But in industrialized parts of the world it is different, as one New York medical volunteer notes:

“When’s the last time you saw someone nursing anyway? Every woman who ever nursed seems to have disappeared, and the woman who decides to nurse needs someone to talk to. Sometimes, just a physical presence helps.” But the sad fact is, many mothers fail to receive this support, and so prove unable to nurse their babies.

However, is this failure because the mother is incapable of producing milk? Is there reason for a mother to fear that she does not have sufficient milk for her baby?

Nursing Capabilities

Women have amazing capabilities to nurse. The Bible, for example, reveals that Abraham’s aged wife Sarah did not wean her son Isaac until he was five years old. Does that surprise you? Yet women commonly have nursed longer. Saturday Review of the Sciences of May 1973 observes:

“Early Indians believed that the longer a child received breast milk, the longer it would live. It was not uncommon, therefore, for children to be suckled until the ages of eight or nine years. As recently as 40 years ago, Chinese and Japanese mothers nursed their children as long as 5 and 6 years.”

Only a relatively few mothers, such as those with a rare hormonal imbalance, are unable to produce milk. That mothers even in industrialized nations have the capability to nurse was illustrated during World War II. Prior to it only 38 percent of new mothers in France reportedly nursed their babies. However, under wartime conditions, when no artificial formula was available, almost all mothers succeeded at breast-feeding.

It is remarkable that women can successfully nurse a number of children at the same time. Observed Dr. Benjamin Spock: “I have been interested to learn from mothers of twins that at least as large a proportion of them are able to nurse both babies satisfactorily as the proportion of mothers of single babies.” Even when their diet is severely restricted, mothers can successfully nurse.

This was demonstrated by a study of nursing mothers in India. Although subsisting on a daily diet of only between 1,400 and 2,400 calories, they fed their babies successfully at the breast for over a year. The food value of the milk was about the same as that produced by women receiving an adequate diet. However, in such cases the nursing mother’s body is depleted to meet the baby’s needs.

Even when a woman has not nursed recently, her breasts can be stimulated to produce milk. A very sickly bottle-fed eleven-week-old infant, for example, was found to require breast milk to survive. To supply this, the mother, “dry” for over two months, began allowing her baby to suck her breasts. In eight days her milk began to come in, and in six weeks she was able to feed the baby completely without the assistance of the substitute nurse.

It is obvious that mothers are wonderfully equipped by their Creator to nurse babies. Obstacles, created by modern lifestyles and attitudes, need not be insurmountable.

Overcoming Obstacles

In the hospital a mother can kindly but firmly make known her desire to nurse. She can request that ‘dry up’ shots not be given her. Perhaps she will also be permitted to nurse on the delivery table, since this aids in stimulation of milk production. It might be arranged, too, that her baby only be breast-fed, with no bottle-feedings by the hospital staff.

There is no need for the mother to fear that she will not have sufficient milk for her baby. Even if she has received ‘dry up’ shots, and proper nursing has been impossible in the hospital, persistent sucking by the infant will soon establish sufficient milk production. Some mothers, however, worry when they see their baby suck its fist after feeding. They think it is still hungry. But usually this is only the baby’s sucking instinct, not hunger.

If there is doubt, however, the mother can let the baby nurse again, even though it only finished a few minutes before. If it is hungry it will once again completely empty the breasts. This will stimulate the breasts to produce a greater milk supply. This is really a marvelous supply-meets-demand system designed by an all-wise Creator. The mother’s breasts are triggered by sucking stimulation to meet the infant’s nutritional needs​—even the needs of two healthy babies, if necessary.

So there is no reason to worry. A mother’s milk supply will be just right for her baby. Really, is it not foolish for her to doubt that she can do what practically all women since Eve have done as a natural part of their lives?

But what about attitudes of others, persons today who mistakenly believe that nursing is somehow degrading? Customs and attitudes should not be ignored​—it would be unwise to nurse in such a manner as to shock public sensibilities. However, nursing can be done unobtrusively, so that the breast is not exposed and nearby persons may not even realize a baby is feeding. As one mother noted: “There is a way of doing it. . . . one should consider the rights of others.”

The Pleasure of Nursing

Women ordinarily look forward to nursing their babies. The well-known nutritionist Adelle Davis noted: “I have interviewed more than 2,000 expectant mothers and I can still count on the fingers of one hand the number who said they did not want to nurse their babies.” Fulfilling this desire can bring genuine pleasure.

First, there is emotional satisfaction. One mother wrote: “My main reason for choosing to nurse was emotional. It was deeply satisfying to me to cradle our first baby in my arms and to nourish him from my own body.” The infant also is greatly benefited emotionally, as the respected medical volume Current Therapy 1972 notes: “The psychological advantages for the infant and mother are widely accepted.” Regular, close contact with the mother is invaluable for the development of a child.

The nursing mother can also find pleasure in the fact that she is providing her baby with the very best nutrition. Her milk is ideal for her baby, being designed that way by the Creator. Thus the evidence shows that breast-fed babies are healthier and have lower death rates than those artificially fed.

Then there is the pleasure of the convenience. As one mother writes: “I found I could take our children anywhere when they were little and always have clean sterile milk right on hand and never have to heat a bottle.” Also, many families are happy about the money saved, since there is no need of purchases of bottles and food for the baby.

True, the obstacles created by modern life have caused some to view nursing as a burden. But the fact is that it is one of the pleasurable experiences arranged by the Creator for the good of his creatures.

[Footnotes]