Breastfeeding Awareness & Developmental Benefits
One commonality all humans across the world share is providing care for babies and newborns. Breastfeeding is a natural process that our bodies go through to provide nourishment for new life, much like many other species on our planet. World Breastfeeding Week is always in August, along with World Breastfeeding Month being August each year. During this time, humans of the world join efforts to promote breastfeeding awareness and how important it is “to protect, promote, and support… for the health of the planet and its people” (WABA). The goal is to better enable breastfeeding and to help parents feel more empowered doing so. Because of the innumerable benefits for both mother and child in breastfeeding, supporting parents in this endeavor can promote healthy development.
The Importance of Breastfeeding
As a natural component of the cycle of our lives, breast milk has all the nutrients required for a baby’s development. Mother’s milk has all the properties to adequately provide their new baby with beneficial development of their immune system, protection against many diseases, as well as provide these immunities for themselves at the same time. It has been shown that breastfeeding an infant can reduce risk of future disease as well, such as chronic illness like diabetes or recurring infections.
A child’s development is a major factor relating to breastfeeding, and doing so can benefit overall health and development in many ways.
Behavioral Development
Behavioral development is related to cognitive development in kids. Sometimes during infancy, if development is disrupted or inhibited, behavioral issues may become evident over time. Things like lack of coordination or high levels of frustration can be related to overall development. Typical brain development includes the areas of gross and fine motor skills as well as language and cognition. Breast milk has a positive effect on development in these areas for those crucial stages at the beginning of life. To try to prevent behavioral issues related to cognition or development, feeding infants breastmilk can have a positive impact.
Physical & Motor Development
You may recognize the name of the compound found in breast milk, DHA (docosahexaenoic and arachidonic acid). DHA is linked to many benefits relating to cognition but also can have a positive impact on the development of motor skills. A baby’s development is affected by this compound and DHA has been shown to affect the development of fine and gross motor skill development in a significant way. As it is beneficial for a baby’s muscular development and overall coordination, breast milk is a smart way to provide the proper nutrients.
Speech and Language Development
Coordination, as with physical or muscular development, can also affect a child’s ability to communicate. Language skills are partially acquired through coordination of oral development and articulation, which can often be learned through breastfeeding in the earliest stages. The muscles of the face, mouth, and jaw coordinate to develop the ability to suck, swallow, or breathe during breastfeeding, using the lips, mouth, and tongue in the process.
Linguistic development occurs through strengthening the muscles needed for pronunciation and language. When babies are required to utilize these muscles at an early age and consistently, these developing muscles grow stronger and provide less of a possibility for inhibited language skills later on. Breast milk itself also provides much of the nutrients needed for the brain to properly develop the regions for processing language and memory.
Innumerable Benefits for Both Mother and Child
Many people are aware of the heightened benefits for babies receiving breast milk, but some may not realize how many benefits breastfeeding offers the mother as well. If they have breastfed, women have less risk of contracting breast or ovarian cancer. During the breastfeeding stage, mothers also have a lower risk of developing illnesses along with their child. Kids continue reaping the benefits of being breastfed over the course of their life, such as having an advantage for managing a healthy weight, immunities, anti-inflammatory, and other positive impacts to their health.
Although breastfeeding is natural and simple in concept, for many, many mothers it does not come without great difficulty. While it is natural, it may not come naturally in technique or ability. Luckily, resources and support for breastfeeding mothers is available in communities across the country. Moms can get help and connect to specialists to help them develop their skill in breastfeeding along with share in the experience of other mothers.
Here are three resources you can reach out to in the Southern Nevada community:
ADVANCED BREASTFEEDING SUPPORT OF LAS VEGAS
This organization can provide many different services to aid in your breastfeeding journey. Choose from different packages depending on your needs and can accommodate in-home or office visits. They also offer virtual consults along with learning about pumping or returning to work when that time comes. Although most of their services come with a fee, they do ask that Medicaid or WIC recipients get in contact with them to learn more.
https://breastfeedingsupportlv.com
NEVADA WIC
With different facility locations you can visit, Nevada WIC offers a peer-to-peer breastfeeding support program in addition to their many free resources like lactation consultant referrals, pumps, literature, and more. Their goal is to provide support and instruction from other moms to both expectant and new mothers to give them the best resources possible to promote breastfeeding. Find a group near you and learn more about the services they offer:
http://nevadawic.org/breastfeeding/
SOUTHERN HILLS HOSPITAL
Find a breastfeeding support group available free of charge where you can connect with other moms or moms-to-be and learn more about breastfeeding. They offer things like weight checks before and after feeding, open sharing of different experiences, questions, or concerns, along with hospital-grade breast pumps for rent. The groups are presented by lactation specialists at the hospital - check out their schedule to find out when you can attend:
https://southernhillshospital.com/service/breastfeeding-support-group
Tilton’s Therapy believes that parents and mothers should have access to helpful resources to help them with their children’s journey of development. The less common benefits of breastfeeding are all-important when considering your option to provide breastmilk or rely on other sources of nourishment. Learn more about breastfeeding and continue your education through the reputable sources and studies listed below.
Resources and Studies Referenced:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK52687/
https://worldbreastfeedingweek.org
https://news.brown.edu/articles/2013/06/breastfeeding
https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/139/4/e20161848
https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/119/Supplement_1/S92
https://adc.bmj.com/content/archdischild/64/11/1570.full.pdf
