BY CLEO
If someone were to ask me in my early twenties if I planned on breastfeeding someday, the answer would have been simple. "Absolutely not"! Why go to all that trouble when I could simply bottle feed formula, after all it was just as good right?
Well, that was then and many years later and with a whole lot more information here is the now.
When the time came for my husband and I to have a baby, everything changed. I started my research only to find what I instinctually knew all along, that truthfully breast is best. The list of benefits were so high that how could I not try to breastfeed my baby?
I did learn one very important piece of information along the way that many people don't even think about. The quality of breastmilk largely depends on the mother's diet and state of health. Therefore, in extreme cases (degenerative disease, high environmental toxicity, etc) some mothers may actually be better off bottle feeding formula. Consider that a breast is made up of tissue that is best described as modified sweat glands, so we are detoxifying through our breast milk to a high percentage. A healthy diet free of hormones, pesticides, alcohol, processed foods etc etc, is vital to the quality of breast milk. Not only is that healthy for the mother but same goes for the baby. Basically treat it like everything that goes into your mouth is going into the baby's mouth, so please be careful. Okay, I'm done with the scientific part of this article.
So, you know all the movies where the mom gives birth and right away attaches her baby to her breast and the baby starts to suck and all is well with the world..NOT!!!! It's so not like that. I had many challenges right from the beginning. From having no milk for the first week to trouble with latching, clogged ducts, breast infections and the list goes on. Luckily for me I had a very supportive husband who helped me get through every challenge as well as the lactation support team at my hospital where I gave birth. They taught me the art of "latching and positioning". My husband was also in school at the time studying to be a naturopathic doctor.
He was able to use the wisdom of his teachers to help me deal with some of my issues. For example, taking the safe and inexpensive herb fenugreek along with a tea called Milchbildung (milk building) dramatically helped with milk production and the important "let-down". Using Homeopathics was also a God send. Not only did it help me have a great labour and delivery (15 mins active labour and no pain medications), but it also took care of my breast infection.
Dairy farmers are on to this because a dairy cow treated with antibiotics cannot contribute to the milk supply so they lose considerable amounts of money, but those on homeopathic medicines can. I could go on about all the benefits of homeopathy but that would be a different article.
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