Will County Health Department explains benefits of breastfeeding
Compared to many other countries in the world, the United States is experiencing a deficit of breastfeeding mothers, despite the health benefits the practice can provide to children.
Will County Health Department WIC Program Manager and Breastfeeding Coordinator Alissa McCormick said that mothers in the US may be opting not to breastfeed for two reasons. Firstly, bottle formula is extremely accessible in the US, making it the easier option for mothers. McCormick said that there are also social reasons. While most European countries are accepting of public breastfeeding, the US can still be a “prudish” country by comparison.
“That definitely plays a part,” McCormick said in a news release. “Most laws now allow a woman to breastfeed wherever she is allowed to be. So at a restaurant, she’d be allowed to do it where the public is welcome, but not in the kitchen, since customers are not supposed to be there.”
However, McCormick added that all it takes is “that one person making a negative comment or creating a scene, saying ‘you’re not supposed to be doing that.’ It can be very discouraging.”
McCormick said that this is especially true for new mothers who are still getting used to breastfeeding and the very fundamentals of being a mother.
“If you don’t have a significant support network; such as a mother, older sister, a baby’s father informed of the benefits, or family and friends who have built a life breastfeeding and saying ‘yes you can do this,’ negative reactions can be hard to take," McCormick said in a news release.
McCormick stated that there are over 250 known benefits of breastmilk, compared to the approximately 50 known benefits of bottle formula. New benefits of breastmilk are still being discovered.
One of the more recent discoveries is the HAMLET cell, which is formed by two molecules found found in breastmilk and is lethal to tumor cells but harmless to a baby’s healthy cells. This gives the mother’s milk even more healing power and can help prevent ear and respiratory infections, allergies, and diseases such as leukemia.
McCormick says that while the country is starting to get better as a whole about breastmilk education. However, she would like to see more education about the matter in schools.
