Toxic Breastmilk???

My nutrition teacher suggested that breast milk was one of the most toxic substances you could feed an infant. This immediately rose objections from almost every student in our class...I was surprised by several things. The fact that so many people seemed to be paying attention at least as much as I was, and that they all seemed to realize the importance of breast milk and that this notion could be extremely detrimental to many kids.

She says that [the average American] bodies are exposed to TONS of chemicals. We consume steroids in our food, we sleep on mattresses and pillows soaked in fire-retardant chemicals, BPA in our milk, carcinogens in the strawberries, lead on our children's toys, paint on our walls, dyes in our clothes, oh and all the aspirin/tylenol/chemicals-we-call-medicine we pop like candy. So maybe there is something to this theory.

On the flip side, mother's milk is the ONLY food substance that is made specifically for baby. Imagine that, mom intuitively knows what it is baby needs, takes it from her own body and gives it to her child. Included in this are all sorts of protective immunity factors, called immunoglobulins, to protect baby for at least the 1st 6 months of life. Not a man made formula has ever been able to adequately duplicate breast milk, despite billions of dollars of research. Even if they could add all the vitamins and minerals, there's some debate over whether or not isolated chemical formula of these nutrients is as beneficial as the whole food. I'll leave that another blog.

I was most surprised that my teacher seemed to rank soy formulas above breast milk. The soy that's consumed in the US is not the same soy consumed in the East that does provide them with health benefits. Our soy is heavily processed, and ends up mimicking estrogen in our bodies, which aren't needed until baby girl reaches reproductive age, hopefully not for another 12 or 13 years! Besides, estrogen isn't something we should consume, rather, our bodies have the ability to make what we need. Here's a good website that covers the dangers of soy formula in detail.

Ultimately, mom has control over the quality of her milk. Mom needs to realize before she gets pregnant that what she puts into her body before, during and after pregnancy (if breast feeding), or doesn't put into her body has a tremendous effect on baby. This includes what mom surrounds herself with, however I admit, it's a bit overwhelming to think you've got to change your mattress, bedsheets, an entire new (organic) wardrobe - including shoes, carpet, paint...everything in your home to be chemical free. But you should start doing research about which items are most harmful (hint, cleaning products top that list) and work to start replacing the worst offenders. If mom can detox her body, then there will be no doubt about it, breast milk far outshines its competitors when it comes to baby's health.