About Me
- ncouragingminds~
- Hello welcome to ncouraging minds my name is Tarsha. I am passionate about early intervention, parent education, and providers/teachers who serve young children. I enjoying conducting educational seminars and helping participants gain new knowledge. Most importantly I gain the most satisfaction from "light bulb" moments that participants have in my seminars. Being a lifelong learner and seeking opportunities to grow and develop have become dear to me. I enjoy quiet time, beaches, and time with loved ones. I am the proud mother of two children, and wife of my college sweetheart.
As a mom, I am an advocate of breastfeeding. I belive that it is essential to the overall healthy growth and development of infants. When I breastfed my first child she was never sick, nor did she experience any ear infections. In fact, I rarely remember her being sick at all. This experience proved to me how important it is to give your baby the best milk, which is breast milk. In times of natural disasters, this method of feeding is proven to save lives, the video clip above demonstrates the power of compassion in addition to human nature at work in the midst of adversity. According to breastfeeding.com (Dr.Ahrendsen) there many Benifts for Society regarding breastfeeding. See the benefits below:
ReplyDelete1. Optimum Child Spacing
Though less of a factor in the Western world, sufficient birth spacing helps with the survival of the older sibling and the new infant. Prolonged lactation helps to promote the spacing of children.
Source: Thapa, S., "Breastfeeding, birth spacing and their effects on child survival." Nature 1988;335:679-82.
2. Improved Vaccine Effectiveness
Breastfed infants showed a better serum and secretory responses to peroral and parenteral vaccines than the formula-fed, whether with a conventional or low protein content.
Source: Han-Zoric, M., "Antibody responses to parenteral and oral vaccines are impared by conventional and low protwin formulas as compared to breastfeeding." Acta Paediatr Scand 1990; 79:1137-42.
3. Financial Savings to Government and Families
a. Food Expense
The cost to supply artificial baby milk (ABM) to one child is between $800 and $1,200 per year depending on the brand and area of the country.
b. Medical Expenses
A pre-publication study by the Wisconsin State Breastfeeding Coalition estimated the following health care savings in Wisconsin if Breastfeeding rates were at 75% at discharge-50% at six months:
$4,645,250/yr Acute Otitis Media
$437,120/yr Bronchitis
$6,699,600/yr Gastroenteritis
$262,440/yr Allergies
$758,934/yr Asthma
$578,500/yr Type I Diabetes (birth -18yrs)
$17,070,000/yr Breast Cancer
$30,984,432/yr TOTAL HEALTH COST SAVINGS
4. More Ecological
There is less use of natural resources (glass, plastic, metal, paper) and also less waste for landfills.
5. Less Child Abuse
A retrospective review of 800 pregnancies at one family practice revealed an association between lack of breastfeeding and physical and sexual abuse of the mother and/or her children. This anecdotal association, has not been previously reported, is worth further study using more rigorous methods
Source: Acheson, L., "Family Violence and Breast-feeding" Arch Fam Med July 1995; Vol 4,pp 650-652.
by Jon Ahrendsen, MD, FAAFP
Clarion, IA USA (515) 532-2836
If you would like to contact Dr. Ahrendsen, you can mail him at: jonahr@netins.net