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What US Could Learn From Breastfeeding Australian Senator

  • May 11, 2017

A groundbreaking move by Australia’s Parliament to allow one of their female senators to breastfeed while attending Senate sessions should send a message to her counterparts in the U.S., according to CNN Opinion. Instead of focusing on sexual perceptions of female breasts, it’s high time for Americans to recognize that breasts also serve a natural, utilitarian purpose, and following Australia’s example could go a long way toward allowing women to stay in the working world, CNN said.

It’s interesting that Australia’s move comes on the heels of an essay in the journal Pediatrics, which advocates not calling breastfeeding “natural.” The essay’s authors advise pediatricians not to promote the “naturalness” of breastfeeding because it could lead parents to believe that “natural” approaches include questioning things like vaccines.

However well-meaning that opinion may appear to be, it’s comparing two different public health initiatives using a model that implies parents have an inability to recognize the difference between "natural" and "healthy" or "safe," when it comes to the benefits of breastfeeding.

The fact is mothers have breastfed since the beginning of humankind and it is natural, no matter what some activists say in a medical journal. Breast milk is loaded with nutrient growth factors that prime your child's gut to promote the growth of a healthy microbiome and thus a healthy immune system.

Other amazing benefits of breast milk is that it also contains the exact amount of cholesterol your child's brain needs for optimal neurological development. Breastfed babies also have fewer ear, respiratory, stomach and intestinal infections than their formula-fed counterparts. And, like the apparent thinking of the Australian Parliament, breastfeeding is as natural as it gets.