Breast IS Best for Mom, Baby and the Environment
Thursday December 17th, 2009 // Written by Andrea
I have been pregnant or nursing since December 2005. That’s 4 years folks! I’ve had a long and successful run of breastfeeding with both Tristan (15 months) and Maya (17 months and still going). But sadly I think my nursing career is coming to a close. So I’ve been thinking back lots about breastfeeding and how far I’ve come.
Before I had Tristan I was pretty apathetic about breastfeeding, Odum on the other hand was and still is a hardcore lactivist! I was game to try it out and if it worked great. If not I was ok with formula feeding. I knew it was going to be a big adjustment to become a mom and I didn’t want to put any more pressure on myself. Today I am so pro-breastfeeding I’m almost at the lactivist level. Breastfeeding is so important for so many reasons. We’ve all heard the benefits for mom and baby but there are also great benefits for our planet.
Let’s start with the manufacture of formula. For the most part formula is made from cow’s milk. We’ve talked before about how detrimental dairy production is to the environment. The deforestation required for cow pasture and cow feed and air and water pollution from cow waste and flatulence.
Once the milk is obtained from the cow it undergoes processing in order to replicate breastmilk as closely as possible. This means the milk is altered and manufactured with flavoring, vitamins, proteins and other chemicals. The formula is then packaged in tin, paper and/or plastic. All these industrial processes just to create and package formula use energy and resources. Also think about all the gas used to get the milk to the factory and then the formula from the manufacturing plant to the retailers. Talk about tallying up a carbon footprint!
Once you buy the formula you also need bottles. The pollution caused by manufacturing and then discarding bottles and all the paraphernalia that goes with bottles adds up. You also have to use boiled water to make the formula, using water and energy. And think about all the water and energy used to clean and sterilize bottles. Yikes!
Now I’m not writing this to make anyone feel bad about formula feeding. You have to do what’s right for your family and what you feel comfortable with. I just didn’t realize just how eco-friendly breastfeeding was until I sat down and thought about it. And if you’re on the fence about whether to breastfeed or not here are some more great reasons to nurse your baby.
4 comments in the discussion so far...
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I was so sad when I couldn’t breast feed my boys. They where all premature and small and sleepy and I have Polands syndrom which means I only have the “use” of one breast, so the cards where stacked against us
I expressed with all of them for a while, but Alfie (my youngest)was so sick with reflux (which brought on apnea attacks) that he couldn’t have breast milk!
I do look back and feel sad that I couldn;t do more, even though at the time I wasn;t as “green” minded as I am now and the waste that is generated is amazing.
People will always need the option of bottle feeding, for medical reasons or even choice, but I really don’t feel the industry has made any effort to up the game enviromentaly. YOu can buy glass feeding bottles (which could then be re-cycled or even kept for another baby)but only if you look really hard on the internet. Babies are only offered cows milk or soya formular but NEITHER are good for a fast growing infant.
Although I couldn;t breast feed I made sure my kids got good homemade baby food and always had a banana in my bag for an on the hoof lunch.
At the end of the day having children at all is an envirmental compromise. I think if a new mother can’t breast feed they could make sure all their other choices are the deepest shade of green and maybe find somewhere where they could work out the carbon footprint of bottle feeding and maybe plant trees or donate to charities to try and offset a little?
Good for you for keeping it up..bet your boobs are ready for a rest now though lol!
xx
Oh wow Kelly, the odds really where against you! You do what you can right. That’s one of the reasons I’m not a hardcore lactivist. I think there’s so much guilt associated with motherhood and I think the decision to breastfeed or not is so personal and fraught with so many variables. It’s like the people who are hardcore about the all natural births, I still have guilt about having to have c-sections.
Love your ideas about offsetting the carbon footprint such a great thought!
Yep my ladies will never look the same! The things we do for motherhood huh?!
I saw the “breast feeding nazi” at work when I was in hospital with Ollie (10 years ago in jan!!! OMG!!!) My plan was to try but Ollie spent an extra week in special care because he wasn’t strong enough to feed, although he was healthy in all ways and could have gone home. I suddenly realised I was surrounded by HEALTHY babies being TUBE fed (which always carries the risk of aspiration and infection) because their mums had trouble breast feeding. I saw mums weeping trying to feed babies and I just thought “enough” and told the nurses I was going to bottle feed and take my baby home. They really pushed me not to even though I was expressing!
We all know its best but I think they would be better trying to spread the message to the less educated mums rather than bullying mums who can’t do it but want to.
And don;t worry..I gave up my stomach for my kids..I have the body shape of mike from monsters inc
Kelly I completely agree with spreading the message! Not only to mom’s but also to society in general, the amount of times I’ve heard about mom’s being made to feel like they are doing something dirty by nursing their child is unconscionable. Or a mom being told to feed their baby in the bathroom and not in public, like anyone would eat their meal in a bathroom, it makes my blood boil! Mike from monsters, lol! You’re too funny!