The Philippine Online Chronicles

Just this April, a cost analysis study reported in the Huffington Post stated that 900 lives and up to $13 billion could be saved if 90% of American women breastfed exclusively for six months. The statistic is staggering: 900 lives are lost in a country that can provide good healthcare because of childhood illnesses, mostly those related to respiration and digestion. These same childhood illnesses are reduced, if not directly resolved, by breastfeeding.

The possible savings for a smaller country, like New Zealand, is around $245 million.

One cannot help but wonder then just how much formula feeding is costing our country, not just in terms of lives, but in terms of healthcare costs and loss of income for parents who tend to their sick children.

Renowned breastfeeding advocate Chele Marmet once said: “People need to understand that when they're deciding between breast milk and formula, they're not deciding between Coke and Pepsi.... They're choosing between a live, pure substance and a dead substance made with the cheapest oils available.”

It is the live substance in breast milk that is its most important component. And it is this that saves the lives of children.

As Immunization

In the womb, a mother passes her antibodies to her baby. After delivery, the colostrum (thick, yellow milk) that the mother produces in the early days is steeped with infection-fighting ingredients that protect the infant from diseases as it adjusts to its new environment. It has also been found that breastfeeding enhances a baby’s vaccine response.  The passive immunity they get from their mother improves their serum and secretory responses to vaccines, translating not just to higher levels of antibodies but also less negative reactions to the vaccines.

For Teeth Development

Breastfeeding results in better teeth and jaw development, as the suckling required to express milk from a mother’s breast requires more muscles compared to feeding from a bottle. Good jaw development facilitates the growth of straight healthy teeth. Breast milk is also not sweetened by sugar unlike formula, which usually damages the tooth enamel and grooms a child to prefer sweets.

As Protection from Common Childhood Illnesses

Breastfeeding has been found to reduce the possibility of a baby dying from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) by half, probably because most mothers who breastfeed also co-sleep, making them more attuned to their babies, and breastfeeding improves a baby’s breathing and swallowing coordination. Breastfeeding also reduces incidence of ear infection by half.

Breastfeeding protects from other infections like meningitis, urinary tract infections, cholera, neonatal sepsis, salmonella and E.coli. Breastfeeding has also been proven by recent studies to protect against asthma.

Other Long-Term Health Benefits

Breastfeeding has been found to reduce childhood cancer risks, such as leukemia, in children as well as ovarian, uterine and breast cancer in women. Although not a guarantee, this particular benefit saves a family millions of pesos on cancer treatments and medication since it may take between 2-5 years before one gets cured, and usually only if the cancer was caught early.

Breastfed babies also seem to metabolize cholesterol better due to the cholesterol in breast milk which lends itself to reduced risks for heart disease in later life.

Mothers also cut their diabetes, stroke and heart disease risks if they breastfeed, especially if they do it longer. Mothers who don’t breastfeed are also four times more likely to develop osteoporosis than breastfeeding moms. Breastfeeding also reduces the risk of rheumatoid arthritis in both baby and mother.

Why say no to formula feeding?

Many parents do not know that formula-fed babies are up to 25 times more likely to die from diarrhea and four times more likely to die from pneumonia than breast-fed babies, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The reason for this is that formula requires sterile equipment and water for it to be safe, and the right proportion of formula to water to ensure that the baby will not suffer from water intoxication.

This was the reason why the Department of Health (DOH) had to say NO to the well-meaning donations of formula milk in the Ondoy aftermath. It wanted mothers to continue breastfeeding to protect their children from diarrhea, especially since sterile drinking water is not guaranteed in refugee centers. Breastfeeding missions were also held for this purpose by different groups and institutions.

Many people do not understand why breastfeeding advocacy groups are encouraging the boycott of Nestle as well as other milk companies. It was even a Nestle-paid pediatrician who tried undermining the results of the U.S. study mentioned in the beginning of this article.

People do not know the lengths these companies go through to undermine breastfeeding, especially in urban poor or rural areas. What’s more, few know the high price we pay by continuing to patronize breast milk substitutes.

The WHO estimates that at least 16,000 infants die each year in the Philippines because of infections and diseases that breastfeeding usually addresses and protects from. The fact is, formula-feeding results in more hospitalizations and for the poor Filipinos, common illnesses become complicated enough to result in a lifelong compromised health or even death.

A blog inspired by Senator Pia Cayetano estimates that the Philippines could save at least P2B from lost wages for caring for sick infants, hospitalization and funeral expenses resulting from the 16,000 deaths every year. Add to this the P200-300B we also spend on formula that we could channel instead to our children’s education, better health care and other investments.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has recently signed the Expanded Breastfeeding Act which hopes to encourage more companies to be supportive of their breastfeeding employees. Breastfeeding advocacy groups continue promoting, explaining and defending the Milk Code in the hopes that their efforts will also facilitate greater equity for the Filipinas.

And we also continue in our efforts to make people aware of the true story behind the formula milk we give to our babies.

Photos: "Breastfeeding pics" by Stanley Ong of The Stork Studio. Used with permission. / Other photos by author. Some Rights Reserved.

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Mec Arevalo is a serial blogger, stay-at-home Mom, breastfeeding peer counselor for L.A.T.C.H. Inc. and volunteer counselor/facilitator for FAD Inc. Aside from being an intentional parent and preparing their family for homeschooling, she does what she can for her advocacies: breastfeeding, children-in-conflict with the law (CICL), HIV/AIDS Awareness and sign language. She relaxes by Plurking and digiscrapping.

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