Mother's Milk

Mother's milk is best for babies:

Whether humans or animals, mother's milk is always the best, because it is manufactured by nature specifically and specially for their body types and needs.  The beauty of breast-fed child or of an animals as we know is that , they are not sickly, has better immunity, digestion and set of teeth. We are very fortunate and grateful to our mother because we are all breast-fed children. I noticed that we all have a natural teeth intact up to this day, we don't wear false teeth as we noticed to children fed with infant formulas, Our vision/sight is better also, up to now my eyes are 20/20 vision, even my brothers and sisters except for the eldest wearing a reading glasses. We all acknowledge it to our breastfeeding mother. We don't have hospital confinement during childhood, asthma or allergies in short we had a very normal child life. In the Philippines specially in provinces it is a usual practice to breastfeed the newborns, specially during my time but since the flooding of infant formulas in the market, brainwashing by media through TVC,  even doctors prescriptions, the tradition changed, and since then newborns were fed with infant formulas these days they are  not the same, they are different compared to children of earlier times most of them are sickly. That is why many women's groups is advocating the practice again of breastfeeding their child and that is a good sign. A book excerpt below from "The Macrobiotic Way" by Michio Kushi explains why mother's milk is for human babies and cow's milk is for calf.

 Macrobiotic infant nutrition:

Milk has always been served as a vital link between generations. Through the mother-infant breastfeeding relationship, the foundation was laid for the unfolding of intelligence and human consciousness.  Even today the dependency of the newborn upon its mother tightens the bond between them and ensures that the child grows strong and healthy.

Research compiled over the past twenty years has proved beyond reasonable doubt that mother's milk is best for newborn babies. Formula fed babies are more likely to develop digestive problems and diarrhea. They also have a lowered immunity to illness and infection, and less of a chance of surviving the first years of life alive and well. Mother's milk is the best way to protect infants from viruses and microbes. It gives them solid immunity against infection. In addition, a child's intelligence may also be limited by the use of cow's milk.

All creatures are born at different stages of biological development. for example, many species of fish can swim and eat immediately after they are born. Horses and cows are able to stand just hours after birth. human babies can do little more than suck, and are totally dependent on their mothers for a much longer time than most other animals.

Using brain development as a guide, we can compare the difference and their nutritional needs in infancy. At birth, the human brain is 23 % develop, compared with 40% in chimpanzee and gorilla. A calf's brain is nearly 100% develop by the time the calf sees the light of the day, not needing much brain food, but rather food for bone and muscle building, the calf may gain 75 pounds in the first six weeks. An infant's need for protein and calcium is much less than that of baby calf. However his or her requirements for carbohydrates, which nourishes nerves and brain cells, is much greater than the calf's- and human mother's milk contains nearly twice as much carbohydrates as cow's milk. Mothers who introduce cow's milk when their babies are few months old may lead to long term health problems, as cow's milk is is too rich in protein, calcium and other minerals. It was created this way to support the growth and development of a three-hundred pound calf.

Children fed with cow's milk may become bigger in size more quickly, but their internal organs become somewhat lazy, loose and enlarged. As it is composed of larger molecules than mother's milk. Cow's milk tends to over-nourish the body and under-nourish the brain and nervous system. Breast-fed babies are generally brighter, more sensitive and more alert than those fed cow's milk.

I like this TVC breast feeding campaign by DOH, it has a lot of common sense: "Hindi hayop ang anak mo!" (your child is not an animal!).