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WisconsinChristianNews.com Best For Baby
Volume 25, Issue 4
By Dr. David Lange, Genesis Primary Care August 2024 Among many other titles, Au- gust is National Breast Feeding Month. I deliv- ered babies early in my ca- reer and always enjoyed the care
milk are many and include the obvi- ous: water, but also protein, lactose, fats and antibodies. While the milk glands are good at this job, they are not necessarily filters to prevent other things from getting into the milk. Whatever the mother con-
gling a bit, many hospitals have lac- tation consultants. Your midwife may be one and your doctor’s office may have one as well. These women can help one get comfortable with feeding and offer much needed sup- port. But even with all the best in-
which one(s) are best is beyond the scope of this article. At some point in time, every baby is weaned. There are no guidelines as to how long a baby should be breast fed. “The longer the better” probably doesn’t extend beyond a year. Although many women choose to breast feed longer than a year, I do not have scientific evidence that 2 or 3 years, or even longer, offers addi- tional protection from disease or other benefits. Weaning can be a dif- ficult time for both mother and child. Engorgement can be very painful, but this is actually what shuts down the hormones that have been supporting milk production. A breast binder can also be helpful to offer support and provide feed back to the milk glands that milk produc- tion should end. There are medica- tions that can turn off the production of prolactin within hours causing milk production to end and ease engorgement, but they will need to be taken for a few weeks to ensure that the hormones are back to pre-pregnancy values and remain there. While the medication may sound like the easy way out, it does take quite a bit longer, so weaning the natural way may be better. I know, it is easy for me to say, but this should only be a few days, the body is normally pretty quick to re- spond to this. Breast feeding is best for baby. Not only does it provide the optimum source of nutrition for the baby, but it creates a bond between mother and child. This bond helps to facili- tate the process of breast feeding and creates an emotional environ- ment that is beneficial for both mother and child. This grand design by the Grand Designer has served mankind for millennia and will con- tinue to be the ideal solution for fu- ture generations. GenesisPrimaryCare.com Please see the display ad on Page 20 of this issue of Wisconsin Christian News).
of mothers and babies. When I de- cided I needed to discontinue that part of my practice, those new moms and babies started to disap- pear as they found Family Practi- tioners who did deliveries or the babies were sent to pediatricians in- stead of back to their FP. Gradually, my practice aged, as I did. Now that I am in private prac- tice, I am finding a new group of moms and babies coming in be- cause of their unique requirements that I am able to meet. It is a joy to be able to see and work with these youngest of patients. Along with babies comes the chal- lenge of getting back in the swing of things for what is new over the last 20 years. What is not new is the feeding of that newborn. That has not fundamentally changed since the beginning of time. God built men and women to fulfill unique roles in the propagation of the species. While one gender can help the other gen- der, there are some things, that no matter how extreme the chemical manipulation, only one gender can provide. Breast feeding (there is no such thing as chest feeding) is God’s an- swer to getting nutrition into our newest family members. The entire pregnancy is about making the bod- ily changes necessary in order to fa- cilitate this miracle. The end result of 9 months of changes is a delicate interplay of hormones with prolactin and oxytocin at the center of it all. Why is this the best source of nu- trition? The components of breast
sumes can cross into breast milk. This includes the various chemicals from spices like onion and garlic, to name just two. These compounds may affect a child if they are some- how sensitive to them, but mothers should not avoid a food item that they enjoy because one is breast feeding. Unfortunately other things can cross as well, including alcohol and illicit substances, pharmaceuti- cals and other organic chemicals we consume like pesticides and herbi- cides. This is just one more reason why it is important to choose a healthy diet. Organic may not have any additional nutrients in it com- pared to non organic foods, but cer- tainly the chemical content should be lower. Of note, moms do not need to in- crease their calorie count. Stay hy- drated and get enough calcium and iron, but the overall number of calo- ries lost to breast feeding is rela- tively small. For new moms who may be strug-
tentions and support, what happens if there just isn’t the supply needed for your baby? There are donor programs out there and if needed, can help, but there may be qualification criteria that must be met so best to check with your local program. Formula is probably not what peo- ple want to hear about here, but de- spite it’s limitations, it will nourish a baby quite well. It really is the only viable substitute for breast milk. Be- fore the age of one, a baby’s intes- tinal tract is more leaky than after age one. Proteins from cow’s milk or goat’s milk will cross into the blood stream. This results in the baby making antibodies to those proteins which is associated with higher rates of Type 1 diabetes, allergies and asthma later in childhood. Formula may be cow’s milk based, but it has been treated in such a way that these proteins are no longer a threat. A longer discussion of the pros and cons of formula and
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