I got this today and wanted to share.  Ann Calandro, RNC, IBCLC

> Breast Is Best --For All Our Babies
>
>
>   Courtland Milloy can be reached at (202) 334-7592 or by e-mail at
> [log in to unmask]
>
> By Courtland Milloy
> Wednesday, June 7, 2000; Page B01
>
>
> It is the picture of health: a mother breast-feeding her baby. Except that
> it's not as common as it should be--especially among black women. What is
> the problem?
>
> Several clues have emerged from research recently conducted by Inga
> Tate-Spurlock, a graduate student in applied anthropology at the
University
> of Maryland. Among them:
>
> * Some mothers simply don't know how to get their infants to "latch on" to
> the breast, so the women get frustrated and give bottles to their babies
> instead.
>
> * Breast-feeding is no longer socially or culturally acceptable in the
black
> community, which somehow manages to tolerate other behaviors that are far
> less healthy.
>
> To help remedy the situation, Tate-Spurlock wants to produce a promotional
> video featuring black women who breast-feed, and she would like to include
> some influential female celebrities. Her idea comes on the heels of an
> urgent appeal by U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher that as many newborns
as
> possible be breast-fed.
>
> "Breast-feeding reduces the risk of asthma," Satcher said recently.
> "Breast-feeding reduces the risk of sudden infant death syndrome.
Breast-fed
> children are also less likely to be obese later in life."
>
> Although 60 to 65 percent of white mothers breast-feed their babies, only
30
> to 35 percent of black mothers do.
>
> This behavioral difference, both Satcher and Tate-Spurlock say, is a
> contributing factor to one of America's most disturbing racial
disparities:
> A black child is more than twice as likely to die during the first year of
> life as a white child.
>
> "Breast milk has all of the mother's immune defenses in it," Tate-Spurlock
> said. "You get protection from all of the bacterias, everything that your
> mother already has been exposed to. It's like getting your first booster
> shot from Heaven."
>
> For working mothers, especially, finding the time to breast-feed can be a
> problem. But if we know that breast milk is, indeed, manna from Heaven,
then
> what could possibly be more important than feeding it to a newborn?
>
> "All working mothers should get time off to breast-feed," said
> Tate-Spurlock, adding that legislation is pending in Congress to establish
> "lactation stations" in the workplace so mothers can pump their milk and
> save it for later feedings.
>
> Tate-Spurlock notes that some of the resistance to such progressive
measures
> stems from a lack of appreciation for the "feminine continuum," as she
calls
> it, meaning marriage, conception, pregnancy, childbirth, lactation and
> child-rearing.
>
> "We have become so caught up in a material culture, where performing our
> jobs means everything, that we have forgotten the importance of performing
> our natural roles as human beings," Tate-Spurlock said.
>
> "Women and children aren't being loved, respected and protected the way
they
> should be," she added. And that disrespect appears to be even greater for
> today's young black women, whose loss of status is apparent in the
merciless
> way they are portrayed in certain rap lyrics and videos.
>
> Tate-Spurlock also notes that misinformation about breast-feeding abounds.
> For example, some believe that it ruins a woman's body. Not so, she says.
>
> "When an infant is allowed to feed on demand, the sucking actually
triggers
> an internal mechanism that helps the uterus decrease back to its normal
> size," Tate-Spurlock said. "Breast-feeding can also stimulate amenorrhea
> [the suppression of menstruation], which can serve as a natural
> contraceptive."
>
> The only caveat is that women with HIV should not breast-feed, she said.
>
> Tate-Spurlock's ideal video would include actress Jada Pinkett and singer
> Lauryn Hill, both of whom are breast-feeding advocates.
>
> She also could include herself.
>
> "I breast-fed my third child on demand for 18 months," said Tate-Spurlock,
> referring to her now 22-year-old daughter, the only one of her children
who
> was breast-fed. "She went from me to a cup and never touched a bottle. She
> never had a childhood disease, either."
>
> All babies should be so blessed.
>
>
> © 2000 The Washington Post Company
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
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