Sep. 21--EL PASO -- After listening to the advice of her health-care providers, Northeast resident Jaclyn Castro has made a big decision about how she will care for her first baby.
"I'm going to breast-feed 100 percent," she said after a recent class about breast-feeding presented by the Women, Infants, Children Program, or WIC. "It's better for the baby. Every time I come, they tell me it's better for the baby."
Lizabeth Berkeley, a lactation consultant in the obstetrics and gynecology department at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at El Paso, said society has sexualized breasts and succumbed to marketing of infant formula manufacturers, making the choice more difficult for mothers considering breast-feeding.
"What human infants were evolved to do is be raised on their mother's milk, and that would be true of any other mammal," she said. "It just follows logically that of course it's the best way to feed your young. No other mammal feeds their young milk from another species.
"Would you give a squirrel cocker spaniel milk?"
She said infant formula does not have the antibodies that a mother's milk has.
Berkeley said women she works with often are nervous about breast-feeding their children. Many worry they won't produce enough milk or will feel the pain their friends might have had when they tried it.
She said a little advice from a professional, such as her, can make the process much easier for moms.
Berkeley said expectant mothers should ask their doctors
about prenatal classes, which often are offered free at hospitals. Many topics, including breast-feeding, are covered here.
While still in the hospital after giving birth, new moms also can ask for help from the hospital's lactation consultant or another professional.
Berkeley also recommended that moms take advantage of the Baby Cafe, a project of Texas Tech that offers free support and assistance to breast-feeding moms.
"It's surprising how many couples want to (breast-feed their child). We're really not respecting these people's interests," she said.
A push to encourage mothers to breast-feed their infants will include a change in October to the food packages available to WIC mothers.
Low-income women who decide to exclusively breast-feed their children will be provided more food assistance than those who opt to use formula exclusively.
Moms who choose to combine both breast milk and formula are eligible to receive a midlevel food package.
"Breast-feeding is important because of all the benefits it offers for mothers, for babies and even for families and employers. Everyone benefits from a mom breast-feeding, from decreasing disease," said Astrid Lara, breast-feeding coordinator for the city Department of Public Health.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, breast-feeding is linked to a lower risk of an infant developing ear infections, stomach viruses, diarrhea, respiratory infections, asthma, obesity, diabetes, leukemia and sudden infant death syndrome.
Mothers who breast-feed may have a lower risk of Type 2 diabetes, breast cancer, ovarian cancer and postpartum depression.
The agency also says there are financial savings to mothers who don't have to buy infant formula.
"We really focus on encouraging moms to start looking at and considering breast-feeding when they're pregnant," said Lara, who works with women in the WIC program.
The program requires all expectant mothers to attend a class about breast-feeding. They also can speak individually with a breast-feeding peer counselor.
The WIC offices in El Paso are also participating in a statewide WIC effort to increase breast-feeding called "Every Ounce Counts."
"We want moms to know that any amount of breast-feeding, from breast-feeding one day, makes a difference," Lara said. "Breast-feeding a week builds babies' immune systems. At a month, you decrease the probability of breast or ovarian cancer (for the mother)."
This sort of information supported Skylar Peters when she chose to breast-feed her son, Kamron Flowers.
"I heard it was healthier for the baby," she said. "My cousin didn't do it and her baby got sick a lot, so that was the main thing, so he didn't get sick."
She said that though she eventually added formula into his diet, her son loved breast-feeding.
"He would chug it," she said.
Erica Molina Johnson may be reached at emolina@elpasotimes.com; 546-6132.
Resources
Learn more about breast-feeding at:
--www.womenshealth.gov/breast-feeding
--www.cdc.gov/breast-feeding
--www.dshs.state.tx.us/wichd/bf/bf1.shtm
--www.llli.org
--www.breastmilkcounts.com/our-new-campaign.html
--www.thebabycafe.org/L/BC_Detail.php?ID136
Free help is available Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the Baby Cafe, 5032 Montana; 779-7239.
More details
According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Immunization Survey, among infants born in 2005 nationally:
--73.9 percent were ever breast-fed.
--43.4 percent continued to breast-feed at 6 months old.
--22.7 percent continued to breast-feed at 1 year old.
--33.1 percent were exclusively breast-fed through 3 months old.
--13.6 percent were exclusively breast-fed through 6 months old.
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