AN UPDATE ON BREAST-FEEDING

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ADVANTAGES FOR MOM

Breast-feeding benefits the mother by stimulating the release of the hormone prolactin, which has been found to induce maternal behavior in laboratory animals. Another "nursing" hormone, oxytocin, helps to squeeze the milk into the ducts that lead to the nipple; it also works to relax the mother. Then too, the baby's sucking helps the mother's uterus contract to normal size, lowering the amount of blood loss.
Of course, the increased opportunity for parent-child bonding offered by breastfeeding is a widely known benefit of nursing, which brings up an interesting sidelight. A baby can have lots of brain cells, but they won't do any good unless they're interconnected. The nerve fibers that connect these cells are called dendrites. And what develops dendrites? You probably said breast milk... right? Wrong! Touching develops dendrites. Holding, touching, and stroking a baby, as a mother naturally does while nursing (you can prop a bottle but not a breast!), helps the child develop the way nature intended.

WHEN TO START FOODS

If this thin, watery stuff called milk is so good, when do you need to start feeding your baby "real" food? This is a difficult question to answer. Recent studies have shown that hydrochloric acid—used to digest most protein—doesn't even appear in the stomach until the end of the seventh month and doesn't reach a peak until the eighteenth month. Co-incidentally, 18 months is approximately when rennin—used to digest the protein in breast milk—has disappeared. Also, it seems that the digestive juice for carbohydrates—ptyalin—doesn't appear until the end of the baby's first year. (The old books on baby care always recommended that mothers pre-chew any solid food.)

You may say that your baby was so hungry that he or she was fighting for solid food at five months, but actually this probably isn't what was happening. The fact of the matter is that in your house you have this strange custom. Each day without fail you gather the clan around a square board and all of you stuff strange-looking things in your faces. The baby probably just wanted to be part of the clan ritual. Remember—babies tend to mimic the behavior of those around them.

With this, I leave to you the decision of when to start foods, but let me offer two pieces of advice. First, don't force food on your baby. He or she will let you know when breast milk isn't completely satisfactory by showing an increased interest in nursing sessions (which you will soon discover is not due to a growth spurt). Second, instead of feeding your child, just let the youngster feed him-or herself, from food you place on the high chair tray. (As the father of eleven children, I know this can be quite a messy experience!)

This way, not only will your child be less likely to overeat, but the little one will also tend not to eat foods he or she may be allergic to. By the way, heavily sweetened foods, honey, spicy or salty foods, and nuts are definitely not recommended for babies.

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