The Ironies of Breastfeeding

(Some forms of village life are conductive to breastfeeding. Photo credit: emilio labrador.)

There is a reason that women abandoned breastfeeding so quickly when formula became available. And it wasn't because it was marketed as being scientific or more nutritious. It's because breastfeeding is a hassle. Formula feeding is a hassle, too (and a hassle that's not as good for the baby, let's not forget) but it's effort that can be shared. Anyone at all can bottle feed a baby. Only a lactating woman can breastfeed. (You will notice I didn't say only the mother; plenty of cultures cross-nurse)

Women in the developing world feel the same way, and they are only just discovering the alternatives to breastfeeding. Women traditionally breastfed because it pretty much came down to breastfeeding or letting you baby starve. It wasn't about traditional wisdom, or being close to nature. It was about necessity. If you put women in a situation where there are alternatives, and don't tell them why breastfeeding matters, they'll tend to take the alternative.

In the wealthy world, we make breastfeeding more convenient through pumping and storing breastmilk. This allows women to be away from their babies for more than a couple hours, and lets others feed the baby. Pumping carries its own set of annoyances, but, like formula, they are a nice change from the annoyances of breastfeeding.

In the developing world, breast pumps are a lot less common. So is refrigerated storage. That makes pumping and storing breast milk for later use very close to impossible. (Yes, breast milk can last at room temperature for a full day. That's not really long enough to be useful in most situations.) So women who can't manage the logistics of nursing a baby have no choice but to use substitutes.

The cruel irony, of course, is that environments short on electricity and therefore refrigeration also tend to be short on safe water. That makes formula not simply less good but downright dangerous. It's all the more important that women breastfeed their children as long as possible.

So, how do we help women do it? I'll give you my thoughts in my next breastfeeding post. In the meantime, please offer up your own ideas in the comments.