FOOD FOR THOUGHT 

James Grant, Executive Director, UNICEF 

From Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative brochure by UNICEF 



Breastfeeding is a natural "safety net" at against the worst effects of poverty. If the child survives the first month of life (the most dangerous period of childhood) then for the next four months or so, exclusive breastfeeding goes a long way toward cancelling out the health difference between being born into poverty and being born into affluence … It is almost as if breastfeeding takes the infant out of poverty for those first few months in order to give the child a fairer start in life and compensate for the injustice of the world into which it was born. 

Imagine that the world had invented a new "dream product" to feed and immunize everyone born on Earth. Imagine also that it was available everywhere required no storage or delivery—and helped mothers to plan their families and reduce the risk of cancer. 

Then imagine that the world refused to use it. 

Towards the end of this century of unprecedented discovery and invention, even as scientists discover the origins of life itself , this scenario is not, alas, a fiction . The "dream product” is human breastmilk available to all of us at birth, and yet we are not using it. 

Alice Roddy, LLLL 
Nursing is the biological norm for mothers and babies. It is a relationship that provides stress reducing hormones to the mother as well as stimulation, connection, and protection from illness to the baby. It even feeds the baby. 

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