BREASTFEEDING

Breastfeeding

Breast Feeding

Feeding is a vital activity contributing to the infant's health and survival. Human breast milk has far-reaching value for the health of human infants. Besides superior nutrition, breast-feeding provides not only immunologic properties but also a strong bond between a mother and her baby (Lothian, 1995). Breast-fed infants are less likely to develop respiratory, gastrointestinal, ear, and urinary tract infections than are formula-fed infants. Women who breast-feed gain both physiological and psychological health benefits. Breast-feeding can empower women (Locklin & Naber, 1993) and reduce risk of premenopausal breast cancer, and ovarian cancer (Rosenblatt & Thomas, 1993), as well as osteoporosis.

Advantages of breast-feeding to the health of mothers include increased maternal uterine tone, which in turn decreased the risk of postpartum hemorrhage (Chua, Arulkumaran, Lim, Selamat, & Ratnam, 1994). A successful breast-feeding experience can enhance women's sense of selfesteem and the maternal-infant bond (Hutchinson, 1990). For adolescent mothers, a better mother-infant relationship may improve the quality of parenting that, in turn, promotes the wellbeing of their infants. Furthermore, teenage mothers may see breast-feeding as a way to demonstrate their maturity and competence as a mother (Radius, 1987).

Breast-feeding has a significant economic impact on individuals, families, and nations. An average of $1000 per year could be saved in food costs if the mother breast-feeds. It was estimated that a minimum of 2 to 4 billion dollars could be saved each year in the United States if mothers were encouraged to breast feed their infants for at least 12 weeks (Labbok, 1994). In Australia, Drane (1997) found that increasing the prevalence of exclusive breast-feeding at three months from 60% to 80% could save a minimum of approximately $11.5 million annually. In developing countries, breast-feeding has more benefits when health services are less adequate; families are generally poorer; and the general health environment is more precarious.

Researchers have spent many years determining how community involvement contributes to individual behavior and achievement. Improved selfesteem and community involvement seem to set in motion a chain of events that can transform a culture. Bandura (1986) contended an individual's personality was a combination of the environment, behavior, and the individual's psychological processes. Cognitive learning theorists believe human development is represented in the best form “as a continuous reciprocal interaction between children and their environments” (Shaffer, 1993, p. 59), also known as reciprocal determinism. Reciprocal determinism is “the notion that the flow of influence between children and their environments is a two way street; the environment might affect the child, but the child's behavior will also influence the environment”.

In modern societies, women have few opportunities to learn about breast-feeding because the more traditional sources of learning, such as older women in the family, were lost as nuclear families replaced extended families (Giugliani, 2004; Torvaldsen, Roberts, Simpson, Thompson, & Ellwood, 2006). Mothers become mothers with almost no knowledge about breast-feeding, leaving them vulnerable to problems during the process (Giugliani). Regardless of recent scientific verification that artificial formula-feeding is a detrimental practice (Amir, 2006), women continue to choose to feed their ...