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Laredo, TX – – The City of Laredo Health Department WIC Program is proud to proclaim August 2009 as Breastfeeding Awareness Month with a Breastfeeding Baby Shower on Thursday, August 13, 2009 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Health Department Auditorium (2600 Cedar). Throughout the event, experts will talk about the benefits, methods, and issues of breastfeeding.   Breastfeeding is one of the most important ways to provide great nutrition, protect children, and to promote proper child development.  By encouraging mothers to give every possible ounce of breast milk to their babies, we are transforming Laredo by creating stronger families and healthier citizens. 

“Breastfeeding: A Vital Emergency Response.  Are You Ready?” is this year’s theme of Breastfeeding Awareness Month.  Research has shown that there is no better food than breast milk for a baby’s first year of life.  Breastfeeding provides many health, nutritional, economical and emotional benefits to mother and baby.  Since a major goal of the WIC Program is to improve the nutritional status of infants, WIC mothers are encouraged to breastfeed their infants.  WIC has historically promoted breastfeeding to all pregnant women as the optimal infant feeding choice, unless medically contraindicated.

• WIC mothers choosing to breastfeed are provided information through counseling and breastfeeding educational materials.
• Breastfeeding mothers receive follow-up support through peer counselors.
• Breastfeeding mothers are eligible to participate in WIC longer than non-breastfeeding mothers.
• Mothers who exclusively breastfeed their infants receive an enhanced food package.
• Breastfeeding mothers can receive breast pumps, breast shells or nursing supplements to help support the initiation and continuation of breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding supplies the best nutrition for babies and helps them form strong immune systems to fight illness.  Breastfed infants have fewer ear infections, incidences of diarrhea, lung infections and infections of the brain and spine.  Recent studies confirm that children who were breastfed have higher IQs and a decreased risk of becoming overweight or obese later in life.  In addition mothers who breastfeed their babies also receive health benefits including reduced risks of breast and ovarian cancer and osteoporosis.

Breastfeeding and the Immune System
Human milk is baby’s first immunization.  It provides antibodies which protect baby from many common respiratory and intestinal diseases, and also contains living immune cells. First milk, colostrum, is packed with components, which increase immunity and protect the newborn’s intestines.  Artificially fed babies have higher rates of middle ear infections, pneumonia, and cases of gastroenteritis (stomach flu).  Breastfeeding as an infant also provides protection from developing immune system cancers such as lymphoma, bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease and celiac sprue, and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, all of which are related to immune system function.  Breastfed babies generally mount a more effective response to childhood immunizations.  In all these cases, benefits begin immediately, and increase with increasing duration of breastfeeding.

Babies from families with a tendency to allergic diseases particularly benefit from breastfeeding.  Exclusive breastfeeding, especially if it continues for at least six months, provides protection against allergies, asthma, and eczema.

Infant Growth and Development
New growth charts from the World Health Organization confirm that breastfed infants grow differently from formula fed babies.  Breastfed infants grow faster initially, then slow down as they approach their first birthday.  (This can sometimes be interpreted as “dropping off the growth curve,” but really represents normal growth.)  People artificially fed as infants go on to have a higher risk of obesity as adults.

More and more research is showing that breastfeeding leads to optimal brain development.  While there are behavioral aspects to this, the milk is important, too. One study of premature babies who were tube-fed breast milk or artificial milk, but were never breastfed directly, showed that the babies who received no breast milk had IQS 8 points lower on average than those who received breast milk.  Human milk has special ingredients like DHA (docosohexaenoic acid) and AA (arachidonic acid), which contribute to brain and retinal development.  All breastfed babies tend to spend a lot of their time in the “quiet alert” state, which is most conducive to learning.

Another well-documented benefit of breastfeeding for the mothers is more rapid and sustained weight loss.  Milk production uses up 200-500 calories a day. To burn off an equivalent number of calories, a bottle-feeding mother would need to swim 30 laps or ride a bicycle for over an hour. In our opinion, breastfeeding is definitely easier! Mothers who have had gestational diabetes benefit particularly from the efficient use of calories during breastfeeding, since a return to optimal weight may prevent subsequent development of diabetes. Furthermore, diabetic mothers who breastfeed tend to need less insulin or medication for their diabetes.