BREAST-FEEDING

Georgia Maloney talked about breast-feeding her daughter, Hali Rodgers.

Hali is 11 months old with blonde curly hair, six teeth and an easy smile. Hali is a happy baby, her mother, Georgia Maloney, says, because she is breast-fed.

Mothers who breast-feed their babies agree breast-milk and the bonding breast-feeding promotes make for happier, healthier babies.

Aug. 1 through 7 is World Breast-feeding Week, a time set aside to encourage expectant mothers to consider breast-feeding.

Mothers who breast-feed praise the benefits. Breast-milk is free and available on demand. It is more easily digested by babies, promotes healthy growth and development and some studies say higher IQs.

Breast-feeding also helps mothers and babies develop a close relationship.

Maloney, who is 19, said she always knew she would breast-feed her baby and her mother encouraged her. She delivered Hali by Caesarean section. "I was scared that I wasn't going to get to breast-feed," she said. But she did. "Hali took right to it."

"I would suggest it to anybody," Maloney said. "It makes you feel good that you are a party to making your baby happy."

Another breast-feeding mother says she first learned about breast-feeding when she was a teen-ager baby-sitting for a nursing mother. "I really admired her and wanted to be like her," she said. Today she is nursing her third child.

Her second child has had a series of health problems. Doctors told her he has done as well as he has largely because he was breast-fed.

"Breast-feeding is kind of a family thing," she said. "It is a sacrifice for the family, but it makes the family closer. It's wonderful."

She agrees breast-fed babies are happier and more content. "I think it's because you have to spend so much time with your baby. They know that at certain times they will have time with mom."

Stephanie Summers served as a breast-feeding mentor, offering support and tips. The mother of two, Summers youngest is 2, and she stopped nursing at 14 months.

The mothers say society needs to re-evaluate breast-feeding.

Summers said, "We are socialized to think of breasts as something sexual, and that a baby's mouth doesn't belong there. Breasts are functional. This is what they are meant for."

They also suggested new mothers give breast-feeding a try. If the mother isn't comfortable with the experience, she can always quit. And perhaps she will enjoy it.

"I can't imagine anyone giving it a serious try and not enjoying it," Maloney said.

Sara Michie, WIC nutritionist at the Cape Girardeau County Health Department, encourages expectant mothers who qualify for the WIC food supplement to consider breast-feeding.

Some new mothers think WIC to provide all their baby formula. The program doesn't. It is designed to supplement the formula supply. "I don't even talk about formula, except to ask if she knows how expensive it is," Michie said.

Michie has lots of information about breast-feeding. She refers nursing mothers to members of the WIC program who have successfully breast-fed their babies. She also directs questions to the La Leche League, an organization that promotes breast-feeding.

In October, the health department will begin a peer counseling program for WIC mothers. Mothers who have experience breast-feeding will receive an additional 20 hours of training to help new mothers begin breast-feeding.

"They will be helping me," Michie said. "I don't have children, so sometimes it is helpful to have someone who has been through it to answer questions."

For information about breast-feeding or the WIC program, call Michie at 335-4330.