Breastfeeding

          The publuc health topic I chose for this week’s blog assignment is what I have listed above…Breastfeeding. This topic is so meaningful to me because I have a 4 year old daughter whom I breastfed for four months after givig birth to her. After taking nursing, childbirthing, and parenting classes, I received so much information on the benefits of breastfeeding both for mother and child. I was hesitant at first because I thought it would hurt or that she possibly would not latch, as some babies don’t, but it was a wonderful experience and I look forward to breastfeeding again if I my husband and I decide to have another child.  “Human  milk provides the specific nutrients that babies need to grow, both in size and maturity… ” (THE WOMANLY ART OF           BREASTFEEDING, 7th Revised Edition, page 340).

           According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, research shows that breast feeding provides advantages with regard to general health, growth, and development. Not breastfeeding significantly increases risk for a large number of acute and chronic diseases including lower respiratory infection, ear infections, urinary tract infection, and necrotizing enterocolitis. They state that there are a number of studies that show a possible protective effect of breast milk feeding against sudden infant death syndrome, insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, allergic diseases, digestive diseases, and a possible enhancement of cognitive development.

          In Africa, more than 95% of infants are currently breastfed, but feeding practices are often inadequate: feeding water, and other liquids, to breastfed infants is a widespread practice. Consequently, the rate of exclusive breast-feeding is low, particularly in West Africa. The importance of breastmilk as a food resource of African countries is generally not recognized.  The AIDS epidemic could threaten breastfeeding because the virus can be transmitted through breastmilk, as demonstrated by numerous studies. A study suggests that feeding breastmilk and other liquids to infants could be the feeding mode associated with the highest rate of transmission.  A strong determination of African governments to promote exclusive breastfeeding among all mothers and to protect prolonged breastfeeding among non-infected mothers will limit the mother-to-child transmission of HIV while preserving the benefits of breastfeeding.

          This information I have learned about breastfeeding was all what I had learned prior to giving birth to my child. I promote breastfeeding in my work now, and at my childcare center we have set up a nursing station so that mother’s can feel comfortable breasfeeding their child. We also allow women to pump and bring their breast milk into the daycare center and we handle the milk properly so that it mainitains the nutrients necessary for the baby. I will continue to promote breast feeding and will hopefully encourage more mother’s to breast feed for their child’s first few months of life.

Childbirth in China

          According to Chinese custom, a husband should carry his bride over a pan of burning coals when entering his home for the first time to ensure she will pass through labor successfully. Once pregnant, a woman guards her thoughts. It is believed everything she does and sees will influence her unborn child. According to old Chinese tradition, what affects a woman’s mind will also affect her heart and connect with the baby en-utero. A pregnant woman reads good poetry, she doesn’t gossip, laugh loudly, sit on a crooked mat, look at clashing colors, or lose her temper. Many Chinese women will read beautiful stories before drifting off to sleep. And, sex is absolutely forbidden during pregnancy.

          Chinese women will often drink a strong herbal potion to ease the strain of labor. Custom dictates that women not fear the laboring process, since birth is considered a women’s career to the ancient Chinese. Chinese women traditionally labor in an armchair or futon. Once the baby is born they will often pray to the goddess who helped them conceive with an offering of sweet meats and incense. When a child is born is also important to Chinese custom. The hour, day, month and year the baby is born dictate which of the Eight Characters he is born under. The Eight Characters are considered so important they will rule the child’s life. They foretell if a child will be successful, wealthy, or blessed with good fortune. Parents may also hire fortune tellers or soothsayers to read their baby’s fortune. The Chinese believe that each person is made up of some of the five elements – metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. If a fortune teller finds a child is lacking an important element, the missing element is incorporated in her name, unless the missing element is fire or water. If water or fire is absent, that is considered a good omen. It is believed that a child with too much fire could be injured by fire in his life; a child with too much water needs to be watched, for she might drown.

          After delivery, Chinese women “sit the month.” The first month is considered an intense healing time for new mother. She is freed from household duties and sits in her bed alone to look after her new infant. In strict households, even the husband stays away. Chinese mothers may fill a baby’s pillow with rice or beans to give the baby’s head a proper shape. And to encourage a strong step, Chinese mothers once bound their child’s ankles loosely with a wide ribbon to keep the feet in an upright positions. Ancient Chinese once believed demons used small children to reinforce the foundations of bridges. As an antidote, mothers and fathers made arrows from the wood of a peach tree to place near the cradle. Parents also tied golden bells tied on the child’s wrists and ankles to keep away the bad spirits. In Southern China, a charm is pinned onto a pair of the father’s trousers and place near the child’s bed in hopes that the spirits will be attracted by the charm and miss the child. It was also believed that nervous children could see the evil spirits unseen by everyone else. To protect these children, Chinese mothers placed small amounts of vermilion in red pouches and pinned them to the child’s clothing. For a rich, healthy life, the Chinese will also tie coins together with a red strings for their children to wear. When a baby is born frail, the parents may ask friends for bits of cloth to sew into a patchwork coat to disguise the child as a poor beggar and trick the spirits. During times of epidemic or contagious illness, mothers protected their children by stitching red cloth in their clothing. And since tigers are consider the protector against demons, many Chinese boys will have embroidered tigers on their shoes.

          This birthing experience is completely different from mine and I could not imagine having my husband by my side nor in a chair. I think it is wonderful that these women are strong enough to do it without their husband’s I just enjoyed having some extra support by my side. After reading this, I have gained much insight on how in tune Chinese women are with their pregnancy and how well they care for their unborn child. Child birth is a wonderful experience, although endured differently. I get the urge to have another little one running around the house. Who knows what God has in store for me in the next few years.

My Personal Birthing Experience

          I was blessed almost 5 years ago with a beautiful bundle of joy and I would love to share  my own personal birthing experience…

          After a long 8 1/2 months and frequent check ups with the doctor, on February 29th I went to what would be my last prenatal visit at my obgyn. My grandmother brought me to this visit, which was unusual for her to be with me. On the way to the doctor’s, we talked about her savings jar that she had for each one of her grand children. She told me that this very morning she had pulled the jar out from the closet and set it on the table. I laughed it off and thought I still have two more weeks or more until this baby comes out, or so I thought. Upon arriving at the doctor’s office, I was greeted by my doctor who was very worried about my last few blood pressure readings. He wanted to make sure I wasn’t having preeclamsia, so two weeks prior they had run all of their testing. I received the results that I was not preeclamsic, but my blood pressure still would not go down. I sat on the table and they took my blood pressure as usual. This reading was extremely high…180/95…they immediately checked my cervix and then told me they were calling the hospital to get my room ready…I was heading to the hospital to have my baby girl.

     On the way to the hospital, I called my husband at work and told him to meet me at the hospital with the bags. He was in shock, but did as I asked. I then called my dad and my aunt and my siblings to let them all know where I was heading. Everyone was in a panic because nobody expected me to go in so early, also the fact that my mom was having surgery on the floor right above me raised everybody’s stress level. I checked into a joint room and patiently awaited for the call to see if I would be getting transferred to labor and delivery. They kept monitoring my blood pressure every hour for about 3 hours. Just as my dad arrived, the doctor gave the go ahead for me to be transferred to my labor and delivery room. I cried my eyes out and anxiously awaited the arrival of my precious little girl. 

      When I got into L&D (labor and delivery), they gave me a cervix gel and pill to see of they could soften my cervix in order for my water to break or contractions to start. Needless to say, neither medicine worked. I spent hours pacing the halls trying to walk her down, soaked in the tub, sat in the rocking chair, basically anything I could do to get my baby into this world. Finally, after about 6 hours of madness, they administered pitocin, which would help jump start my contractions. Let’s just say I will never get that again. My contractions went from mild to severe in about 8 hours. I was in so much pain from them checking my cervix that Iopted to get an epidural, which was even more painful. My husband said the anestesiologists hands were a bloody mess after administering my shot. I still suffer from back pain in that area to this day. They came in to break my water and help move along my labor more. My husband was so sweet and supportive. He massaged my back, rubbed my feet, he even cleaned up the mess left on the floor from when they broke my water. They kept checking my cervix about every 2 hours and I seemed to have stopped dialating after 4 1/2 centimeters and I was 40% effaced. The doctors let me labor for about 2 hours more before calling in an emergency c-section. My little girls was being stubborn and did not want to come out. I cried and cried and cried and so did my husband because this was not apart of our birthing plan. They gave me a salt shot to keep down all the foods I had eaten over the past several days during my stay in the hospital. They sent my husband to get in his scrubs on and we headed over to the room where they would pull my baby girl into this world. The spinal block they gave me did not take and I could still feel them prepping me. They decided to put me to sleep so they could get my baby out with as little pain and complications as possible. My husband sat down the hall waiting for the nurses to come get him, but they never came. He stated that all he heard was a loud blood curdling cry and he knew that was his baby. 

          At 4:15pm on March 2, 2008 weighing in at 7 lbs. 9 oz 19 in. long, our beautiful baby girl, who we named Amira, was born into the world. When I came to from the anesthesia, all I remember hearing was her crying and my first words she ever heard her mother say was “Rock her baby”. I was trying to tell my husband to rock our daughter so she could stop crying. This was a day I will never forget, and she is a constant reminder of how truly blessed I am.