Breast milk still best, says doctor

The importance of breastfeeding has been reinforced by Executive Director of the Breastfeeding and Child Nutrition Foundation (BCNF) Dr Alison Bernard who said it remains key to a child’s early development.

Dr Bernard, who was the featured speaker at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s Antenatal Breastfeeding Workshop on Monday, said that although breastfeeding was controversial in some other jurisdictions, its benefits could not be ignored.

“It still remains a key part of an infant’s development,” she said. “It’s long been recognised that breastfeeding is the ideal food for healthy growth and development of infants. That’s standard, everybody knows that. It does have benefits for babies but the benefits are for mummies as well.”

Commenting on how long mothers should breastfeed their children, Dr Bernard said there was no official cut-off time.

“I hear a lot of stories from mothers that say they were told ‘don’t breastfeed past six months’ or ‘the baby is a year old so you have to get them off the breast’. Now, I am sure someone in this room has heard stories like that, that there is a limit. You can breastfeed till the child is five [or] ten. Obviously, I’m exaggerating but I’m just saying that there is no cut-off point; there is still nutritional value to be gained for the baby even if it’s going on the breast one time a day,” she said.

Dr Bernard stressed that the nutritional value associated with breastfeeding cannot be understated, as it is not only used for growth but also assists in infection fighting.

She explained that breast milk is dynamic in nature, and its composition changes daily depending on the needs of the baby, whether it be to provide more antibodies if the child is sick, anti-infective components, or other vitamins which formulas simply cannot replicate.

“[Baby] formula, just to be concise and put it very clearly, is inferior to breast milk, not because it’s going to specifically harm your child – although there is some evidence to support there are some risks if you formula-feed babies – I’m not talking about that, I’m talking about the benefit of breastfeeding over formula.

“Formula is something that comes from cows. That means that the capacity to digest it is harder for babies because it is not a fluid made for humans, it’s made for cows. So when your baby is sleeping at three and four hours on formula, that is literally because they can’t digest it as well as breast milk. Breast milk digests in a baby’s stomach in about 50 minutes which is why a baby is constantly on your breast,” Dr Bernard added.

This week is being observed as World Breastfeeding Week. (SB)