Evolutionary Health: Breastfeeding
Benefits of Baby Breast Feeding. Brain, Immune System, Hormones, Bonding between Woman & Child

It is a strange thing about humans that we invent things like breast milk 'formulas' so that mothers do not have the inconvenience of breast feeding. Clearly breast milk is highly complex (from millions of years of evolution), and will contain thousands of molecules that are vital for the healthy growth and development of a baby / child. Studies clearly show substantial benefits relating to brain size, intelligence, coordination, health, immune system, allergies, emotional adjustment and well being. I have read of the disgraceful situation in third world countries, where mothers are sold formula by big corporations under the guise that it is better for their babies. While big business is profiting from the poor and uneducated, babies are dying from dysentery and other preventable diseases, which they are protected against by breastfeeding and sharing their mothers immunity.
Breast feeding should be encouraged as one of the most intimate and pleasurable experiences a mother can have with her child - with enormous benefits for both.

We are slowly collecting information from good quality breastfeeding websites which we have added below. We look mainly at evolution & women's health and benefits of baby breast feeding (stimulation of the immune system, hormones / oxytocin, the brain, bonding between mother and child, natural birth control).

The following internet search results suggests a low interest in breastfeeding, though 'breasts' rates much higher (40,000). The obvious conclusion is that men find breasts erotic, and not so breast feeding. This probably explains many things about our society that make it hard for women to breast feed their children (it is still considered obscene in many places). It is also one reason why an evolutionary approach to sexual health and reproduction is important, as it helps protect us from customs and religious myths that cause harm.

breastfeeding (3,500), breast feeding (2,700), adults breastfeeding (1,450), breastfeeding gallery (740), adult breastfeeding (500), wife breastfeeding husband (460), breastfeeding your man (430), breast feeding picture (250), breastfeeding my husband (165), breastfeeding in public (155)
(For comparison also see: Internet Search Results - Top 200 Internet Search Terms)

We hope you find the following breastfeeding articles and websites interesting and useful.
Karene Jade Howie

Breastfeeding Health Benefits & Statistics

From the website: 'Breastfeeding has increasingly been recognised as the optimal form of infant feeding (WHO 2001). Research has provided evidence that breastfeeding increases a baby's resistance to infection and disease and is particularly suited to the growth and requirements of the infant (Marks et al. 2001).

Positive implications for women's health have also been recognised. Breastfeeding helps a mother's body recover to its pre-pregnant state more quickly, and lactation (the production of breast milk) protects against premenopausal breast cancer and osteoporosis (ABA 2003). Psychological benefits between a mother and an infant when breastfeeding, encouraging close bonds, have also been recognised.

Results from Australian National Health Surveys show that in 2001, 87% of Australian infants aged 0-3 years had, at some stage, obtained nutrition from breast milk, a similar figure to 1995 (86%).

There has been a general increase in the proportion of women initiating breastfeeding after discharge from hospital. In the 1970s it was estimated that from 40-45% of women breastfed their infants after being discharged from hospital (Nursing Mothers Association of Australia 1995). National Health Survey results indicated that in 2001, 83% of all Australian 0-3 year olds were breastfed when first taken home from hospital.

The proportion of children receiving breast milk was higher among mothers who had attained an associate diploma or higher since leaving school, when compared to mothers with no post-school qualifications. This result accords with research, which noted that educated women were more likely to breastfeed and tended to breastfeed their children for longer periods (Trussel et al. 1992).'

Breastfeeding Health Benefits & Statistics
http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/525a1b9402141235ca25682000146abc/8e65d6253e10f802ca256da40003a07c!OpenDocument

Breast Feeding Rates in the U.S. and Worldwide

Kellymom.com is a wonderful website on breastfeeding and parenting. It has a great collection of research articles on breastfeeding trends. i.e. What percentage of moms breast feed their babies? How long do they breastfeed? Is breastfeeding declining in our modern world? Informative and intriguing statistics from around the world.

From the website: ' The World Health Organization and UNICEF have recommended for a decade that mothers breast feed for at least two years. But most US women who nurse stop before their baby is six months old - and many never start at all. How do other countries stack up?'

Breastfeeding Rates Around the World

Sources: Baby Milk Action, Cambridge, England; Center for Breastfeeding Information, Schaumburg, IL

Breast Feeding Rates in the U.S. and Worldwide
http://www.kellymom.com/writings/bf-numbers.html

Study & Statistics of Breast Feeding, Infant Formula & Public Attitudes in U.S.

A growing number of Americans incorrectly believe that infant formula is as good as breast milk, while more are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with mothers breast-feeding their infants in public.

'The findings underscore the need to educate the general public that breast-feeding is the best method of feeding and nurturing infants,' Dr. Rowe Li and colleagues from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta write in the January issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

Li and her team note that while health experts recommend infants be breast fed for at least a year, and receive breast milk alone until they reach six months of age, the percentage of US infants exclusively breast fed at six months is 14%, while just 18% continue to receive breast milk at 12 months of age. The same survey, conducted in 2004, found 71% of children had ever been breast fed.

In 1999, 14.3% of those surveyed agreed that 'infant formula is as good as breast milk,' compared to 25.7% in 2003, the researchers found.

Study & Statistics of Breast Feeding, Infant Formula & Public Attitudes in U.S.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_43708.html

This Page Title: 'Evolutionary Health: Breastfeeding. Benefits of Baby Breast Feeding. Brain, Immune System, Hormones, Bonding'.
The main sexuality pages on the evolution of our diverse sexual behaviors have good content and are well worth browsing (see links at top of page). And the list of related sexuality terms that people actually search is informative (to say the least!).
Want to be Involved? Join us in this research, which provides an excellent opportunity to present to the world the latest knowledge about the thing we all find most interesting - sex! The work will not just benefit humanity, it will profoundly enhance your own sexuality as you learn more about our complex and diverse sexual evolution.
We seek help in finding the latest scientific (evolutionary) research on our biological and cultural sexual evolution and distributing content (overviews / summaries) to relevant pages.
This site is well respected. We are listed as the Top Philosophy Website on the Internet with around 500,000 page views each week. So your contributions will be seen and read, and will be providing humanity with a great source of wisdom about a very important subject (that currently suffers due to cultural / religious myths).

If you would like to be involved (or have comments about this website) please write to us using the form lower on this page. Many thanks! Karene

Analyse any human emotion, no matter how far it may be removed from the sphere of sex, and you are sure to discover somewhere the primal impulse, to which life owes its perpetuation. ... The primitive stages can always be re-established; the primitive mind is, in the fullest meaning of the word, imperishable. ... Mans most disagreeable habits and idiosyncrasies, his deceit, his cowardice, his lack of reverence, are engendered by his incomplete adjustment to a complicated civilisation. It is the result of the conflict between our instincts and our culture. (Sigmund Freud)

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Related Search Terms & Number of Searches
Breastfeeding, Benefits, Baby, Breast, Feeding, Immune System, Culture, Women, Problems, Public