Exclusively breastfeeding for
the first six months provides all the energy and nutrients a child needs
August 05, 2004
Exclusively
breastfeeding infants for the first six months of their lives provides all
the energy and nutrients a child needs while reducing the risks of infant
diarrheal and respiratory infections, according to the Pan American Health
Organization (PAHO).
The World Breastfeeding Week, during the first week of August, seeks to
create an awareness of the importance of breastfeeding, a practice that has
been losing ground over the last few decades for a variety of reasons.
The period between birth and two years of age is considered a "critical
window of time" for the growth and full development of a child. Over a
longer term, nutritional deficiencies are linked to problems and obstacles
to intellectual performance, work capacity, reproductive health and the
overall health of adults.
That is why feeding with breast milk during an infant's the first six months
- and even during the first year - creates a solid nutritional foundation
for well-being during adolescence and adulthood.
Even though breastfeeding is considered a natural practice, it is also a
learned behavior. According to the PAHO report on Health in the Americas,
"although most women in Latin America breastfeed and do so for a relatively
long period of time, breastfeeding practices are far from optimal."
The growing number of women in the labor market, together with the lack of
labor practices that guarantee maternal leaves and a limited work schedule
to give mothers a chance to breastfeed, have made the strengthening of this
natural practice much more difficult.
In addition, there are a number of common erroneous beliefs and myths that
further negatively affect the duration of exclusive breastfeeding. They
include:
That a woman does not have enough milk to exclusively breastfeed during the
recommended first six months of an infant's life. Breast milk is produced on
demand; that is, the more an infant is put to the breast to suckle, the more
milk a women will produce. The production of breast milk is influenced by
the stimulus from the suckling action as well as by a series of hormonal
activities that take place when an infant is put to the breast.
That other liquids and foods need to be given in addition to breast milk.
Breast milk provides all the nutritional requirements that infants aged 0 to
6 months need for proper growth.
That infants living in hot and humid climates need to receive water. Even in
hot and humid climates, breast milk should be the only source of food and
liquids for the first six months of life. This not only provides infants
with the necessary liquids, even in the hottest and most humid climates, but
also protects them from infectious diseases caused by contaminated water.
The report on Quantifying The Benefits of Breastfeeding: A Summary of the
Evidence, Publishes, with PAHO's contribution, a list of the benefits of
breastfeeding based on scientific studies. One of those publications --
based on 260 breastfeeding mothers at maternity clinics in San Pedro Sula,
Honduras - made clear that those infants who received only breast milk
during the first six months of their lives were able to crawl earlier and
began to walk at 12 months of age. This was in contrast to those infants who
only received breast milk during the first four months of their lives.
Another study done in the United States showed a reverse link between the
duration of breastfeeding and the risk of overweight: The infants who were
breastfed for more than seven months had a 20% lower probability of being
overweight than those infants breastfed for less than three months.
According to the PAHO program IMCI - Integrated Management of Childhood
Illnesses - the nations of the Americas are committed to joint actions to
increase the practice of breastfeeding. IMCI seeks to promote breastfeeding
throughout the Western Hemisphere.
Most of the nations of Latin Americas and the Caribbean are members of the
Codex Alimentarius commission, which determines the labeling and content of
baby foods. It also determines the appropriate age to begin feeding infants
supplementary foods. In 1989, 30 countries signed the Innocenti Declaration
which focuses on the need to protect, promote and support breastfeeding.
This declaration is the basis of the World Health Organization (WHO)/UNICEF
Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI), which was adopted in 1992. Through
the "Baby Friendly" certification, the BFHI initiative has influenced the
routines and norms of hospitals throughout the world. And in 2001, the
WHO/UNICEF Global Strategy for Breastfeeding Babies and Small Children
worked out a plan of action for the international community about the issue
of breastfeeding.