Tuesday 10th April

How thrilling to see what women have intuitively known for centuries: breast is best.

A recent African study, involving nearly 3000 mothers and babies, showed that the babies, exclusively breast fed by their mothers for 6 months, were far less likely to develop HIV. What’s more the study showed that those babies who were fed with formula milk or who had been given solids before 6 months were far more likely to become infected and die. This study has been interpreted by one of the most prestigious medical journals, the Lancet, as being so important that the key organizations such as the WHO, UNICEF and UNAIDS should change their infant feeding recommendations.

The results of this study should be shouted from the hilltops across the globe. It shows that babies’s immune systems are stronger when they are fed, as nature intended, with their mother’s breast milk and not just for a month or so but exclusively for 6 months. A baby needs this time to allow its immune system to develop. Why are we always in such a hurry to rush things? What is 6 months when you compare it to a life time? Nothing yet it gives a greater lifetimes immunity! Formula milk is a processed and hollow food compared to breast milk. Let’s not be fooled by powerful adverts to the contrary.

This research fuels my passion for getting information out to the world about the importance of preparation for pregnancy and how we bring babies into the world so that breastfeeding is easily established.