Breastfeeding is the most environmentally friendly way to feed your baby. Breast milk is a renewable resource. No plastic bottles that will end up in landfill one day, no energy needed to produce plastic bottles and formula milk, no inefficient land use and methane produced by cows, and the only energy used is your own. Forget that sterilising paraphernalia, and having to haul bags of feeding equipment around. Breasts are not only attached to you so you can’t forget them, they serve up the perfect food for your baby, at the perfect temperature, no matter where you are.
What better time to draw attention to breastfeeding than on the first day of World Breastfeeding Week:
Initiation of breastfeeding within the 1st hour of birth is the first and most vital step towards reducing infant and under-five mortality, by reducing the overwhelmingly high neonatal mortality rate. Save ONE million babies – beginning with one action, one hour support and one message: beginning breastfeeding within the 1st hour of birth!
Breastfeeding is not only beneficial to the environment, there are big benefits for babies and mothers too:
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1. The mother’s antibodies will protect the baby from illness.
2. Breastfed babies are less likely to have allergies.
3. Breastfeeding reduces the rates of breast cancer and ovarian cancer in mothers.
4. Breastfeeding saves time.
5. Mothers who breastfeed lose weight more quickly after giving birth.
If you’re breastfeeding, be proud that you’re giving your baby the vest best start in life, while helping to reduce damage to our planet. Wear a Lactivist t-shirt and promote breastfeeding.
via Activist Mommy
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Comments:
Excellent points all, Tracy. Wish I had seen this post before I put up mine this morning on World Breastfeeding Week in the Americas.
BTW, any chance The Temas Blog can be added to your blogroll? I know I’m adding Ecostreet to mine…
[...] Week (WBW) in the Americas, I should have included the type of information Stacy does in her post on WBW over at Ecostreet, a fine enviro-blog I check out frequently. Stacy argues that breastfeeding [...]
Breastfeeding is one of the best things we can do for our children. Thanks for spreading the news.
Breastfeeding is certainly best for baby plus has added benefits for mum, but there can be too much pressure on mums to breastfeed. Whilst I would certainly recommend new mums giving it a go, they shouldn’t be made to feel like a failure if things don’t go to plan. I very much wanted to feed my baby and started out doing so but had terrible problems which resulted in me giving up. At the time this was a difficult decision but my baby’s thriving and, at the time, our wellbeing was certainly improved as the stress of breastfeeding had gone.
Hi Hayley, thanks for your comment. As a mother who breastfed my own children, I can understand what you are saying.
Pressure is something that new mothers certainly don’t need, what they need are the facts, so that they can make informed decisions. I struggled to breastfeed both of my children at first, gave up with the first one at 6 months, but went on to feed my second child until her 2nd birthday. I felt that much of the information given to me by hospital staff who clearly hadn’t breastfed any children themselves was just wrong, for example: Breastfeeding doesn’t hurt if you’re doing it right. That’s just poo. Breasts are very sensitive things, and babies suck hard. Almost all breastfeeding mothers I know have experienced pain, bleeding nipples, mastitis, etc. It’s part of the process for most of us. Once your breasts toughen up, it stops being painful and starts being a pleasure, and a great way of being close to your baby. Saying that, I do have one friend who said it never hurt and who never had a cracked or bleeding nipple in her breastfeeding “career”.
My point is that once the facts are apparent, you can make your choice. But its worth at least trying, as you did, for your baby’s sake, unless you have a medical reason not to.
[...] Ecostreet: Embrace green motherhood: breastfeed by Tracy Stokes “Breastfeeding is the most environmentally friendly way to feed your baby. Breast milk is a renewable resource. No plastic bottles that will end up in landfill one day, no energy needed to produce plastic bottles and formula milk, no inefficient land use and methane produced by cows, and the only energy used is your own.” [...]
[...] with another of the bloggers I’ve been following recently, Tracy from ecostreet presents Embrace green motherhood: breastfeed posted at EcoStreet. (You may have seen Tracy commenting on our posts here at 21st Century Citizen [...]
I agree, breastfeeding should be promoted and encouraged by more authorities and organizations. Not only does it give the best fix for growing babies, it’s also cost efficient and healthy.
Baby Toy Town.com is a great resource for baby feeding accessories and various baby items. Visit them at: http://www.babytoytown.com for more details.
[...] “Breastfeeding is the most environmentally-friendly way to feed a baby. Breast milk is a renewable resource.” Think of all of the cans, bottles, plastic, etc. that you are keeping out of the landfills. Not to mention that there’s “no energy needed to produce plastic bottles and formula milk, no inefficient land use and methane gas produced by cows, and the only energy used is your own.” — Embrace Green Motherhood: Breastfeed [...]
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breastmilk taste sweeter than any other milk. i’ve even compared it with porridge. people might put too much or too less sugar in porridge but breastmilk is readymade and has the perfect taste.
I agree with this article, but it’s also important for the mother to follow an organic diet during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Pesticides from nonorganic food are passed down and easily absorbed by fetuses and infants. I just posted information about this on my site http://www.projectorganiceating.com.
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