Thursday, June 23, 2011

teach, teach, teach again

"Even when the mother is herself malnourished, her body will normally provide enough milk for a baby, nutritionists say"

 Read the article from the NY Times here.

God is no dummy. Even a poor mom has what she needs to help her baby.  We NEVER give out formula.  We don't give out bottles. We never will. We fight constantly with the preconceived idea that rich people buy formula therefore formula is better. We fight constantly with the culture of aunties and grannies telling young moms that they don't have enough milk. Lies take the lives of babies. With support, almost every woman can produce enough milk and breastfeed without problems.

Breast is best is the number one thing being taught and re-taught in the Heartline pre-natal and early childhood development classes. Women who comply have fat, healthy babies.  The teen moms we work with at Harbor House have some of the healthiest babies of all because they are seeing the other moms in the house doing it, seeing how healthy those babies are, and following suit.

Watching it work is magical.  Dealing with women that don't believe it is frustrating and difficult.

"...what is clear is that there’s a marvelous low-tech solution to infant malnutrition all around us."