Breastfeeding has many benefits for both mother and infant health and seems to result in cost

savings for parents, insurers, and society. Breastfeeding is the typical way of providing newborn
babies with the nutrients they need for healthy growth and development. Breast milk is also
providing complete nutrition and helps to prevent and fight infections. The World Health
Organization (WHO) and UNICEF recommend that infants be exclusively breastfed for six
months and continue breastfeeding with the appropriate introduction of solid foods. Exclusive
breastfeeding means that the infant receives only breast milk. No other liquids or solids are
given, not even water. Although the value of breastfeeding is well understood, there are many
barriers that can make it difficult for women to start and continue breastfeeding. Lack of
knowledge about breastfeeding and aggressive marketing of infant formula are the most
pressing issues in this field these days. This essay will assess the benefits of breastfeeding and
the possible barriers to breastfeeding success. It will then put forward the recommendation for
mothers to breastfeeding exclusively up to 6 months of age.

Nowadays, formula milk companies are continuing to use aggressive and often illegal methods
to target mothers in the poorest parts of the world to encourage them to choose powdered milk
over breastfeeding. Many companies sell formula milk worldwide because they have the right to
produce and sell formula milk. Another factor is there are no strict regulations from the
government to organized formula distribution in society. At the same time, powerful lobby
groups have been working to curtail government legislation regulating formula marketing and
promotion across the world sets up another barrier for exclusive breastfeeding (Ellis-Petersen,
2018).

Many medical experts strongly recommended breastfeeding exclusively (no formula, no juice,
no water) for 6 months. Breastfeeding has several benefits for young infants and also provide
ideal nutrition for them. First of all, breastfeeding can reduce newborns mortality rates from the
wide array of childhood illnesses and infections in the gastrointestinal and respiratory tract such
as diarrhea and pneumonia. According to the WHO data, over 820 000 children's lives could be
saved every year among children under 5 years, if all children 0–23 months were optimally
breastfed (WHO, 2018). Immediate skin to skin contact and breastfeeding within the first hour of
life significantly reduces newborn mortality. Meena Godhia (2017) finds that “colostrum” as the
first milk secreted after the parturition contain immunologic components such as secretory IgA,
lactoprotein, and antibodies that confer passive immunity to the newborns which plays an
important role in the prevention of infections. When Godhia discusses the benefit of
breastfeeding on child’s immune system, she is clearly more reasonable.

Breast milk is also considered to be ideally suited to the growth rate and nutritional requirements
of the full-term infant because it contains adequate amounts of all the nutrients a growing child
needs, including energy, protein, carbohydrate, fat and the micronutrients needed for normal
growth. Dobson (2001) states that breast milk contains dynamic composition and appropriate
balance of nutrients provided in easily digestible and bioavailable forms which relatively safe for
infant’s immature organs. WHO publications on the benefit of breastfeeding ensure that mean
intakes of breast milk provide sufficient energy and protein to meet mean requirement during the
first 6 months of infancy and could reduce the number of malnourished babies (WHO, 2016).

Breastfeeding also has been associated with improved mother-infant bonding because the early
interaction between mother and infant may result in more positive feeding experiences. Liu et al
(2014) found that a mother who starts early initiation of breastfeeding and breastfed exclusively
for 6 months will have greater sensitivity and responsiveness to their infant needs. While it is
undeniable that breastfeeding is optimal for infants, there are a few conditions under which
breastfeeding may not be in the best interest of the infant. American Academy of Pediatrics
states that breastfeeding is contraindicated in infants with classic galactosemia because they do
not have the specific enzyme to break down galactose to glucose, therefore, it can weaken their
liver if mothers still continue breastfeeding (2005).

With regard to contraindications of breastfeeding, another thing to be considered is whether

mother breast milk be contaminated with chemicals or not. Breastfeeding should be
contraindicated for infants whose mothers were exposed to the environmental chemicals.
Cordon (2005) conduct a research about the effect of contaminated breast milk for infants and
he finds that chemicals contaminated breast milk can lead to long-term effects such as
decreased postnatal growth, motor development, and short-term memory function in infancy
through childhood. His findings raised awareness in medical field so the health professionals
finally consider the history and current state of known breast milk contaminants and how to
assist the mother with concerns.
It also has been argued that breastfeeding provides many health and emotional benefits to
mothers. Latest research shows breastfeeding can reduce the risks of breast cancer.
Breastfeeding reduces a woman’s lifetime exposure to hormones like estrogen, which can
promote breast cancer cell growth. In addition, during breastfeeding, breast tissues will be
shedding which it can help remove cells with potential DNA damage (Scoccianti, Key et al,
2015). According to the best available statistics, UNICEF estimates that an increase of 16% in
the proportion of women who breastfeed for 6 months could lead to 1.6% of expected breast
cancer cases being avoided each year (UNICEF, 2012). Breastfeeding also can reduce the
risks of ovarian cancer because it can prevent ovulation which means women will have less
ovulate and less exposure to estrogen and abnormal cells. Australian researchers found that
women who breastfed for more than 13 months were 63% less likely to develop ovarian cancer
than women who breastfed for less than seven months. Moreover, women who breastfed
multiple children for over 31 months could reduce their ovarian cancer risk by up to 91%
compared to women who breastfed for under 10 months (Cordeiro, 2014).

Another benefit from breastfeeding to mothers’ health is it can reduce risks of type 2 diabetes. It
should also be noted that breastfeeding imposes an increased metabolic burden on mothers
and increased energy requirement of approximately 480 kcal/d (Shoukat, 2016). Therefore this
metabolic mechanism responsible for reduced blood glucose levels. Talking about the
connection between breastfeeding and mothers’ emotional context, emerging research
suggests that a relationship exists between breastfeeding and postpartum depression. A
number of studies report that women who are not breastfeeding are more likely to have higher
levels of depressive symptoms than women who are breastfeeding (Pope, 2016). Mothers who
breastfed exclusively feel the greater closeness to their child and enjoy the naturalness of the
breastfeeding process.

However, women’s right about what to do for their child and with their own body has been
widely debated these days. Some people believe that mothers have a right not to breastfed their
child. For instance, mothers cannot breastfed their child if they have illness and should take
some medications (Lemmon, 2012). Several women simply could not make breastfeeding work
it is all because their body’s inability to produce sufficient milk. It should also be noted that
mothers should back to their workplace soon because their employers do not giving enough
maternity leave for them. Moreover, mothers have to earn money because they have
responsibility to fulfill their family's needs. U.S. National Survey of Family Growth found that
employed women who received 12 or more weeks of paid maternity leave were more likely to
initiate breastfeeding and be breastfeeding their child at 6 months than those without paid leave
(87,3% vs 66,7%) (Mirkovic, 2016).

As will be argued in the next section, the decision to breastfeed is a personal one, and a mother
should not be made to feel guilty if she cannot or chooses not to breastfeed. Some mothers feel
uncomfortable when they breastfed their child because they feel worried and embarrassed to
breastfed in unconducive environment. Public Health England (PHE) parenting advice service,
has found as many as 60% of women take steps to hide breastfeeding in public, while 34% of
mothers say they feel embarrassed by it (Turnbull, 2015). Furthermore, at this time a pair of
practical helping hands can make a big difference by allowing a mother time to recover from the
birth and establish breastfeeding. Sometimes mother does not have enough support to
breastfed from their relatives and peers therefore they stop breastfeeding before they want to
cite. Mothers also experience their working environment are too and also do not have a private
place to breastfed (Sauers, 2018). Another serious issue is there may be no acceptable venue
in public areas to breastfeeding. This problem makes breastfeeding become more difficult to
mothers and this is the government responsibility to establish more nursing room in public areas
in order to eliminate one of the societal barriers.

Turning to the economic benefits of breastfeeding might be argued that breastfeeding provides
financial benefits to the whole community members. Improved breastfeeding practices would
prevent annual morbidity rates in younger child therefore it can directly reduce treatment cost
related with child's illnesses. Moreover, improved breastfeeding practices would prevent annual
morbidity and deaths in women caused by breast cancer. In other words, breastfeeding
exclusively can reduce health expenditure in several diseases related to child and women
(Rollins et al., 2016). Breastfeeding can also reduce families’ expenditure on baby's formula
which is higher than the cost of the extra food mothers require for lactation. Breastfeeding also
saves the family's disposable income for foods for older children and adults. In addition to the
savings in direct medical costs, data are emerging about the economic benefits of breastfeeding
to reduce morbidity and improve the educational potential of children and probably their
earnings as adults (Dobson & Murtaugh, 2001).
It may be true that many mothers tend to give their babies formula because they have less
information about the benefits of breastfeeding and they also think that breast milk is not
enough to fulfill their child nutrition. This phenomenon becomes worse when some health
workers tend to persuade mother to give their child formula milk because formula firms give
health workers interesting offers such as free trips and money. The World Health Organization’s
international code clearly prevents formula companies directly earmarking mothers and
healthcare professionals, and limits advertising (Ellis-Petersen, 2018). According to the World
Health Organization, only 38 percent of infants globally were exclusively breastfed. In Indonesia,
only 42 percent of infants aged under 6 months get breast milk (Ulung, 2018). The low
breastfeeding rate is mainly caused by the promotion of breast-milk substitutes and the
government should establish strict regulation to control this issue.

There is increasing evidence that breastfeeding has long term beneficial effects on the infants.
The study in Brown University relating to the intellectual performance and psychological benefit
of breastfeeding made use of specialized, baby-friendly magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to
look at the brain growth in a sample of children under the age of 4. The research found that by
age 2, babies who had been breastfed exclusively for at least six months had enhanced
development in key parts of the brain compared to children who were fed formula exclusively or
who were fed a combination of formula and breastmilk. The extra growth was most pronounced
in parts of the brain associated with language, emotional function, and cognition (Stacey, 2013).
In addition, breastfeeding can increase a child's IQ by a small amount therefore it can increase
child cognitive development in the later period of life (Dobson & Murtaugh, 2001).

Another long-term benefit of breastfeeding in childhood is that it can prevent the child from
atopic and allergic diseases, such as atopic eczema, asthma, and dermatitis. Breast milk
contains transforming growth factor β which is a cytokine involved in maintaining intestinal
homeostasis, inflammation regulation, and oral tolerance development (Haschke et al., 2013).
Giving babies formula milk had lower gut bacteria diversity and altered intestinal microbiota in
the first few weeks associated with an increased risk of allergic diseases. Furthermore,
exclusive breastfeeding can reduce the prevalence of diabetes type 2 in later lives because it
prevented obesity in childhood which is the potential risk factor of diabetes type 2. Studies
conducted by researcher in University of Colorado describing a 4% reduction in childhood
obesity risk for each additional month of breastfeeding and it also quantified a protective effect
on risk for type 2 diabetes in later life for subjects who were breast-fed compared with those
formula-fed (Crume et al., 2011).

Whereas the aim of this essay was to evaluate the benefits of breastfeeding and the societal
barriers to breastfeeding success, it has become a summary of some researchers’ theories.
Breast milk provides the ideal nutrition for infants. It has a nearly perfect mix of vitamins, protein,
and fat, everything that babies need to grow and it is all providing in a form more easily digested
than infant formula. Breastfeeding also has been linking to higher IQ scores in later childhood,
mothers’ health and financial benefits in some studies. Although exclusive breastfeeding has
many positive effects, there are also some societal barriers. One of these is the aggressive
advertising and marketing of formula milk in society. As mentioned above, with the huge
promotion of formula milk from certain firms, mothers tend to give their babies formula rather
than breast milk. One possible reason is that mothers think breast milk only cannot fulfill their
babies need.

Another thing is despite increasing breastfeeding rates being a strategic priority globally, the
involvement of many governments often only goes so far as unhelpful messages overpraising
women to breastfeed. These do not work because they do not change the environment in which
women are trying to breastfeed. They might tell women breastfeeding is important but they do
not offer practical support, change negative public attitudes, or help women delay going back to
work. All of this pushes many women to stop breastfeeding before they want to cite.
Governments must recognize their wider public health responsibility and work to create an
environment that actually supports breastfeeding rather than focusing on telling women to
breastfed.
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