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Breastfeeding. It's Healthy. Is it Sustainable?

Tricia Edgar | Wednesday 21st October 2009

Mothers-to-be are deluged with so many messages about what we should and should not do. My plan was to avoid all of those messages by smiling nicely at people, plugging my ears, and singing "la, la, la." However, a few of the messages got through, despite my best intentions. One was the idea that breastfeeding was important for my child's health. As I struggled to nurse my baby in her first days and weeks, working to move off formula to exclusive breastfeeding, this was my mantra. And we did it - we persevered, and we made it to exclusive and extended nursing. This act that is so healthy comes with a host of environmental benefits as well: it's a sustainable food for babies.

UNICEF and international health organizations promote breastfeeding as the healthiest food source for babies. In places where there is limited access to food and where water supplies may be contaminated, the lives of babies can depend on their mothers' ability to nurse. Less prominent are discussions about the sustainability of breastfeeding. Infant formulas are usually made out of cow's milk or soy. This means that livestock are fed grain so that they can make milk for infant formula. Cows are rather notorious for their production of both methane and feces, which contaminate our air and water. Soy formula depends on the production of soy beans, which have become controversial in recent years due to the clearing of tropical rainforests to grow the crop, an act that is now under an industry moratorium. There are organic infant formulas, but for many mothers around the world these are unavailable or financially out of reach.

Bottles, liners, and tins: the packaging that accompanies infant formula is staggering. In Mother Nature Loves Breastmilk, Dia Michels states that "If every child in America were bottle-fed, almost 86,000 tons of tin would be needed to produce 550 million cans for one year's worth of formula." What does breast milk require? Usually it involves more food and liquid for the mother. If the mother pumps, she will buy bottles and sterilize them. Otherwise, nature has provided her with a handy milk delivery system, no sterilization required.

While the American Academy of Pediatrics encourages mothers to breastfeed for at least a year and as long as mutually desired, there's a social push towards formula. In my grandmother's generation, formula was promoted as the thing to do for women in the middle and upper-classes. Now, in many circles, the trend is swinging back towards breastfeeding, but lack of social support still makes it difficult to breastfeed.

In a year, the world gains about 130 million babies. What will they eat? How much waste will their food produce? Truly, breastfeeding is one of the most neglected areas of environmental activism. Like me, some of the mothers of these babies will struggle with breastfeeding. They will need support from work places, families, and health departments, and with that support, they may be able to breastfeed their children. Nursing a child is a quiet act, but it is also a quiet and sustainable revolution, this one happening in the arms of mothers around the world.

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