COMMENTARY: The New Mexico Pediatric Society is disappointed by the United States’ aggressive and misguided opposition to a World Health Assembly resolution to “protect, promote, and support breastfeeding.”
Courtesy photo
Emilie A. Sebesta
President Trump responded to the backlash with this tweet: “The U.S. strongly supports breast feeding but we don’t believe women should be denied access to formula. Many women need this option because of malnutrition and poverty.” Nonsense.
Breast milk is free. Formula is not. Formula is costly even for families on WIC – a food assistance program for pregnant women and those with young children – because there is a maximum monthly allowance for formula. In other words, families are not given all the formula their infant will need. For instance, the WIC program in Texas tells mothers who are exclusively breastfeeding that meeting their baby’s full nutritional needs will cost an extra $7 a month, while formula-feeding mothers will spend about $115 per month.
That means it costs $1,296 more per year to formula-feed a baby, even with WIC. And, thanks to the WIC program, breastfeeding can help combat malnutrition because it offers breastfeeding mothers a larger share of healthy foods than formula-feeding mothers receive.
The resolution does not in any way deny families access to formula. As physicians who care for mothers and babies, we know there are instances when formula is needed. The non-binding resolution simply supports breastfeeding and recommends against advertising and giving free samples of formula, both of which have been shown to decrease breastfeeding initiation, exclusivity and duration.
For women who can breastfeed, it is the best choice for their babies and themselves. Breastfeeding lowers a child’s risk for a host of maladies, from ear infections to leukemia, SIDS, diabetes and obesity. A breastfeeding mother’s risk of developing diabetes, heart disease and breast and ovarian cancer is similarly lowered.
And, in our hectic world, it affords a unique opportunity for mothers to rest, recover and bond with their infants.
Breastfeeding is a public health issue. We owe it to mothers, families and society to support breastfeeding.
Emilie A. Sebesta, MD, FAAP is the chapter breastfeeding coordinator for the New Mexico Pediatric Society. Agree with her opinion? Disagree? NMPolitics.net welcomes your views. Learn about submitting your own commentary here.