My earlier blog about breastfeeding inspired some passionate responses. I thought I would talk about some of the issues here. But first here is a lovely picture of Raul Montoya, a 4-month-old, wearing a crown, sash and sceptre after winning the King of Breastfeeding contest in Lima on Tuesday this week.

credit: AP Photo/Karel Navarro

And really I have lots of friends who have breastfed for years. Some have even breastfed twins, and babies and toddlers at the same time. But in the debate on breastfeeding often the women who can’t breastfeed are forgotten.

Child-rearing experts have long pointed to the benefits of breast-feeding which we know to include improved resistance to infection and less risk of allergies. But sometimes the message is taken too far and mothers who cannot breastfeed, or choose not to, feel guilty and inadequate.

There are women who: adopt, are HIV positive, have had breast reductions, or take life-saving medication. Inverted nipples or cracked nipples put women off too. These last two problems can be helped with information and proper post and pre-natal care (not available to many women).

Often forgotten too is that many women have to work long hours and their work environments don’t allow for easy expressing. Many young South African women, who might breastfeed for the first few weeks, leave their babies with grandparents to work in the cities. This is not a choice, this is an economic necessity for these families.

My comment about toxins in the breastmilk refers to the concerns about:

‘PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) are man-made compounds used since the1930s in a variety of items including electrical equipment like transformers and capacitors. Although they’ve been gradually phased out since the1970s they still exist in old electronic equipment.

PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) is in toys, food packaging and medical products. Harmless enough when intact, the problem is that we throw a lot of it in the dustbin, and when burnt in waste incinerators, PVC produces dioxins – long lasting, highly toxic chemicals. When released into the atmosphere, they attach themselves to dust or water particles and eventually drift to earth and thus find their way into the food chain. ‘

Read more about these toxins in this mothering magazine. I would be interested to know more about this. Any body know of the latest studies? Are there any South African studies?

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