Bottle-feeding became popular with the belief that it was cleaner, somehow better than breast milk. It was also considered advantageous for the woman on the go—she didn't have to be with baby all the time in order for him to be fed. Someone else could give him the bottle as well as she. It allowed her to go to work.
However, as far as I can see, there are no advantages to bottle-feeding. Even if a woman has to work there are ways to breast-feed her baby. She can hand express her milk before work in the morning or the night before and freeze it. It will be there for the caretaker to put out at room temperature ahead of lime and be ready for baby when baby is hungry.
There are many, many disadvantages to bottle-feeding though. One is it can lead to obesity. The artificial carbohydrates in formula milks are habit forming and increase consumption of artificial sweets later in life. Artificial formulas contain much salt which can lead to dehydration in infants and toxicity. There are high levels of lead in formula milk that has been stored in tin cans.
Bottle-feeding is a very unnatural approach to handling an infant's nutritional needs. It comes complete with schedules, bottles (which can easily become contaminated), complicated preparation, a waste of precious energy, a waste of time, etc. A mother has to be concerned with which formula to use, how to prepare it, how much to use, how often to feed, whether or not to hold the baby, etc. And at best, all the manufacturers can claim is that their formula is "most like mother's milk."
Bottle-fed babies are more likely to develop disease. So-called "allergic" reactions to the milk such as eczema are common. Many nutritional ailments are caused by bottle milks as mother's milk cannot be duplicated. No one even knows all the components of breast milk, and, therefore, formula milks are likely to be deficient in one or more necessary element. One formula milk was found deficient in vitamin B-6 after it was discovered that this vitamin is contained in breast milk.
Bottle milks are difficult for baby to digest. Therefore, much energy is spent in breaking these down to a usable form and less energy is directed toward baby's growth and development.
Bottle-fed babies who are fed cow's milk often have intestinal and gastric disturbances. This is because cow's milk is not suitable for the baby's digestive system. Cow's milk contains more fat, more calcium and much less tryptophan (an amino acid) and lecithin than mother's milk. Tryptophan and lecithin are used in building brains and nerves. Calcium is employed in building bones. This is why cow's milk has the components it has—a cow's bone structure grows rapidly, and its brains and nervous system are not highly or delicately organized. On the other hand, a baby is relatively small of bone and have a large, highly-organized brain with a perfection of senses and bodily control. Babies fed on cow's milk primarily have softer brains and are less likely to be as intelligent as breast-led babies. The excess of fat and cream in cow's milk also produces digestive disturbances in baby.
Cow's milk contributes to hardening of the arteries and high blood pressure later in life. It also can cause low-blood calcium in the newborn, an overload in the infant's kidneys from having to expel the excess proteins, diarrhea, respiratory infections, etc. Tonsillar and adenoid troubles are also common with babies fed cow's milk.
However, under certain, abnormal conditions, it becomes necessary for a mother to include cow's or other animals' milk in the diet of her baby. These will be included later.
Another problem with bottle milk is that it does not change with the hormonal and nutritional needs of the growing baby. The makers of baby formulas cannot duplicate the changes in composition or volume that takes place continuously in mother's milk as her baby grows.
Yes, mother's milk cannot be imitated in the laboratory. Nature had it perfect to begin with, and there is no perfect or near perfect substitute.
No comments:
Post a Comment