Breastfeeding Challenge Oct 1

[AbsolutChaos]

Re: Breastfeeding Challenge Oct 1

I still don't get it. What's the challenge?

The challenge is to get more American women to breast feed and to do so for longer periods of their baby's life and not feel bad about it. Many other countries have mothers who breast feed their babies twice as long in comparison to moms in the US, some even breastfeed for years. Advocates for breast feeding argue that it results in healthier babies and is better for mothers.

However, women often find that breastfeeding is awkward or difficult, given that many of them need to go back to work. They also feel awkward breastfeeding their baby in public, especially with strangers around (remember the whole Barbara Walters complaint about a mother feeding her baby on a plane? Here's a link: http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art32659.asp to refresh your memory.) Women were often encouraged to wean their babies to bottles/formula in the past to maintain a certain image in society, and babies often weren't fed any breast milk at all.

I think the point of this is to make women feel that it's ok to breastfeed, that it's worth all the "trouble," and that they don't need to feel uncomfortable about it. It's trying to change the image of breastfeeding into a positive one.

[MadAzza]

Re: Breastfeeding Challenge Oct 1

I don't really see the point.

Now, a Beerdrinking Challenge ... that's something I could get behind.

[lavagal]

Re: Breastfeeding Challenge Oct 1

I don't really see the point.

Now, a Beerdrinking Challenge ... that's something I could get behind.

And one of my favorite things to do while nursing was DRINKING BEER!
Now I just drink the beer.

I nursed Kid 1 for 19 months and Kid 2 for 30 months, so I'm kind of an expert. I chalk it up to jitters but nursing the first kid was a bit of a freak out for me in public. My kid would nurse and she'd lift the blanket up not necessarily to show the world my great boobs but to see what was going on around her. The show was just the icing on the cake. By the time I was nursing Kid 2, none of that got to me. Ya wanna watch? WATCH! Sheesh. You don't wanna watch? Then DON'T WATCH.

I'm hoping the reason I have extremely confident and beautiful rocket scientists for daughters is because of mommy milk -- occasionally laced with hops.

[kimo55]

Re: Breastfeeding Challenge Oct 1

I don't really see the point.

Now, a Beerdrinking Challenge ... that's something I could get behind.

and the more beerdrinking, the more behind I get.
har.

[cezanne]

Re: Breastfeeding Challenge Oct 1

The challenge is to get more American women to breast feed and to do so for longer periods of their baby's life and not feel bad about it. <snippage>

Oh okay. I thought it was some kinda contest or Breastfeeding Olympics or whatever.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Breastfeeding Challenge Oct 1

It is known that babies that are breastfed rather than fed formula in their first few months (six I believe) are less prone to allergies and develop greater immunities to disease.

Milkfat inside a mother's breast milk clings to Neurons inside the baby's brain. It is this nourishment that allows neurons to fire and create links in the brain to support proper brain development.

It comes down to that use it or loose it when it comes to brain stimulation. The first five years of a child is important to their brain development as 90% of what you learn happens in this time frame. The first 6-months are critical to developing the brain's ability to learn. Breastmilk allows the brain to develop properly outside the womb.

Now you understand the importance of breastfeeding an infant. It's critical for them and as our future leaders it's important to our society to give our Keiki the foundation to develop their minds so they'll correct all the things we screwed up.