Presentation Information

Breastfeeding: Only Nourishment or Part of a Larger Process?

• Speaker: Barbara Morrison , PhD, APRN-CNM
• Presentation Type:
• Duration: 60 Mins
• Credits: 1 CERP, 1 ACM CPD, .1 Midwifery CEU, 1 Dietetic CEU

Abstract:

The current paradigm of infant and family care is:
- Newborns are helpless
- Mothers are clueless
- Fathers are useless

But helplessness and separation negate evolutionary processes developed over millennia of mammalian existence. For our ancestors, who constantly held and carried their infants, breastfeeding was frequent snacking on infant’s schedule. Now, infants eat scheduled meals and sleep separated from mother. Breastfeeding is considered nourishment only. In reality, breastfeeding is part of a nurturing process promoting affectional bonding, emotional, behavioral and cognitive development, and providing protection from acute and chronic illnesses. Full benefits of this process come when infants are in their evolutionary habitat, skin-to-skin on their mother’s chest (Kangaroo Care, KC). In KC infants receive non-noxious emotional and sensory stimuli leading to better utilization of breastmilk and optimal hardwiring of the central nervous system. During this presentation breastfeeding as part of a nurturing process and the optimal environment will be discussed.