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Doctor touts perks of breastfeeding

Two mothers are joined by their husbands as they breastfeed children at a press conference organized by the Bureau of Health Promotion and breastfeeding support groups yesterday. PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES

Spousal and familial support is vitally important for a mother to successfully breastfeed her children, the Bureau of Health Promotion and breastfeeding support groups said yesterday, adding that access to breastfeeding facilities is also key.

“Breastfeeding is good for both the physical and psychological development of babies; it is also good for the mother’s health. However, its success depends on support from all areas of life, including spouses, families, the public and the workplace,” said Taiwan Academy of Breastfeeding president Chen Chao-huei (陳昭惠), who is also the chief of neonatology at the Taichung Veterans General Hospital.

Though it can be laborious, the benefits of breastfeeding are “countless,” said Chiu Wen-hsien (邱文獻), whose wife, Yeh Dan-ching (葉丹青), fed their child breast milk until he was four-and-a-half years old.

“We had our boy on breast milk until he was one, and mixed it with other foods until he was four and a half,” Chiu said.

“Not only is his immune system stronger, his sensory development is also better, and he is emotionally secure. Breastfeeding is the best bridge between a mother and a child for communication, not to mention that I never had to wake up in the middle of the night to make formula milk,” he said.

Although there are many advantages in feeding babies with mother’s milk, in a survey that included more than 1,000 breastfeeding mothers in Taiwan, more than 30 percent said that many public areas were unsupportive and lacked breastfeeding facilities, Chen said.

“They would tell the mothers to go to the bathroom to breastfeed — but would you tell someone to eat his lunch in the bathroom?” she said.

“Mother-in-laws, neighbors or employers who try to second-guess the benefits of breastfeeding can also seriously affect a new mother’s will to go through the difficult process, since they are very emotionally vulnerable after delivery,” Chen said.

On the other hand, more than half of the mothers surveyed named their husbands as the biggest supporter in their breastfeeding challenge, Chen said.

“There is no big science involved in breastfeeding … We can leave the explanation of all the benefits of drinking breast milk to doctors and scientists; to mothers, 70 to 80 percent of our will to continue breastfeeding depends on people around us,” said Wang Wen-hsin (王文心), a chair at the breastfeeding support group Baby Gardens.

“President Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九] should step up and say something on our behalf to remove the obstacles in our way,” Wang said.
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