Women's Health

Breast milk is spoken of as the natural food of young mammals. It consists of water, butter fat, milk sugar, some albumen, and salts. Undoubtedly it is the ideal food for the very young, even though the modern pediatrician, obstetrician, and mother have tried to outmode it. Dr. Holmes said that the young mother possesses two globes far better suited for the providing of nutriment for her young than the cerebrum of the wisest professor.
It is not a very heavy diet and it is undoubtedly wise to supplement it after a bit. I believe that many doctors nowadays start some solid food in the first few weeks of life. The milk of the cow has now entirely superseded mother’s milk for a goodly proportion of American babies. I doubt if anybody suggests that cow’s milk is better for the baby; rather they use the old familiar sales talk that it “is just as good.” The argument is all for the “modern mother” who for some occult reason cannot take the strain of nursing as women have done for millions of years. We were brought up on the teaching that nursing was part of the normal physiology of a woman who had just borne a baby. It is said to aid in bringing the uterus back to its original pre-pregnant condition. It delays the return of menstruation. It seems hard to believe that nursing is not worth while.
Not long ago I jotted down (from some source) the statement: “One of the effects of civilization is the fact that a large proportion of human infants have become parasites on the cow.” It is claimed that in northeastern United States only 23 per cent of infants are fully breast fed on discharge from maternity units. In England 80 per cent of hospital babies are discharged fully breast fed; ninety-five per cent of those born at home. An advertisement of a baby food states, “The most logical are on that regimen substitute is that which achieves the closest approximation to breast milk.” Another advertisement of a well-known baby food says, “This food closely approximates mother’s milk.” When even the manufacturers admit that their products are somewhat inferior, why do most American mothers and their physicians persist in using them? Both groups are a little shamefaced about the matter. Physicians report that the mothers refuse to nurse. The mothers say that they are discouraged by their doctors. We are told that mothers lack the desire to breast feed their babies because of the convenience of bottle feeding and a belief that their figures will be spoiled. Physicians now seem obsessed with their superman ability to handle modern products. I think the herd instinct has much to do with the whole matter. It would not be surprising to find at some future date a tremendous enthusiasm for breast feeding.
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WOMEN’S HEALTH