More Breastfeeding Could Save $13 Billion

April 15, 2010

It's common knowledge that breastfeeding is better for your baby compared with formula, and this new study estimated a figure on dollars saved if 90% of new moms breastfed exclusively for 6 months: $13 Billion. The results are not too surprising. One criticism that was mentioned was the fact that there are costs involved in breastfeeding, including unpaid time off work and lost productivity. This is an important issue that our society has to grapple with: What's more important—job productivity and wages that pay for food, or having a healthier baby?

What they found was that 3/4 start out breastfeeding initially, but at 3 months, less than 1/3 are breastfeeding. The excess annual cost associated with poor levels of breastfeeding compared to the ideal 90% compliance rate was: $9.1 Billion (991 estimated preventible deaths due to SIDS, necrotizing enterocolitis, and lower respiratory tract infections). The remaining amounts were due to otitis media, atopic dermatitis and childhood obesity.

What I discovered after reading the full article was interesting—to define breastfeeding, they asked survey respondents if they have “ever breastfed or fed breast milk.” Exclusivity was defined as the following: "…not having fed anything other than breast milk, including water, in- fant food, juice, formula, cow’s milk, or sugar water." What's clear is that either natural feeding from the mother's breast, or pumped milk from the mother is defined as breast feeding.

There are many dentists and lactation experts that would argue that there's a big difference between the two. Dr. Brian Palmer has argued convincingly that feeding from the mother's breast protects against developing obstructive sleep apnea. In other words, bottle-feeding can aggravate malocclusion and dental crowding. If you notice the various related illnesses in the study, they are all potential complications of untreated obstructive sleep apnea. Something to think about.

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Written by Steven Park · Filed Under Blog | Leave a Comment

Breast Feeding Protects Against Crib Death / SIDS

May 10, 2009

Breastfeeding was found to cut SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) rates in half. A recent paper published in Pediatrics confirmed previous suspicions about the benefits of breastfeeding on the incidence of SIDS.

This study supports my sleep-breathing paradigm, which is also supported by Dr. Brian Palmer’s assertion that bottle-feeding promotes dental crowding and development of obstructive sleep apnea. The jaw narrowing that results persists into childhood and adulthood, leading to smaller breathing passageways. It’s interesting to note that the peak incidence of SIDS is around 4-6 months. Coincidentally, this is also the time of transition where infants go from obligate nose breathers to mouth and nose breathers.

During this transition, the voice box slowly drops to a position under the tongue, which creates a space behind the tongue that only humans have (the oropharynx). This new anatomy is necessary for complex speech and language ability. During this time, the infant has to adjust to different breathing, swallowing and speaking abilities and you can imagine that problems can occur during this time.

Comparative anatomists and evolutionary biologists have said that speech and language development was ultimately detrimental to humans. If you have a common channel that has to serve breathing, swallowing and communication, then overdevelopment of one can detrimentally affect the other two. This is why only humans have so many problems breathing and swallowing.

As I mention in my book, Sleep, Interrupted, our transition in the past few centuries to more processed foods and highly refined sugars, along with bottle feeding, aggravated this problem by causing even more dental crowding and upper airway narrowing.

Written by Steven Park · Filed Under Blog | Leave a Comment