Should Women Be Supported To Breastfeed?

In recent decades, the role of women in society has become more important than ever before. In the past, women typically stayed at home to care for their children and to manage housework. Nowadays, due to the push for gender equality, in general women’s presence in society has been increased remarkably. In addition to having a full time job, many women are also juggling the responsibilities of being a housewife and a mother. As a result, they easily feel stressful and overwhelmed. Despite these difficulties and many alternative options available for breastfeeding, women should be supported and motivated to breastfeed because of the immense and irreplaceable benefits that breastfeeding offers. Breastfeeding is one of the oldest traditions in …show more content…
According to Eidelman, breastfeeding helps reducing risk of SIDS by 36%. SIDS is also more likely in infants that were never breastfed. This study also concludes that at least 900 infant lives may be saved in the United States annual if the breastfeeding rate is 90%. Most of the world’s childhood deaths take place in developing countries and breastfeeding remains by far the most practical method that could save at least 1 million infant deaths annually. The research titled “Short-term effects of breastfeeding” of World Health Organization studies the effect of breastfeeding on respiratory infections and diarrhea disease in young children under the age of five (Horta). The literature search spans many decades between 1966 and 2011. It has found that breastfeeding lowers hospitalization and mortality rates as well as protects against diarrhea and respiratory infections in childhood. Another study, “Breastfeeding and the risk of respiratory tract infections after infancy” summarizes a Dutch project that studied the relationship between breastfeeding and Lower Respiratory Tract Infections (LRTI) in an infant who has been breastfed for six months or longer (Tromp). Based on this study, information on breastfeeding duration and amount were obtained at various stages up to four years of age among 7,893 participants for analysis. This in-depth study concludes that breastfeeding can help reduced risk of LRTI in pre-school children. On the other hand, the study “Breastfeeding initiation associated with reduced incidence of diabetes in mothers and offspring” was conducted by Dr. Martens investigated connections between breastfeeding and risk of diabetes in women in Manitoba, Canada. The data shows a comprehensive study of