Generational allergy

 
I thought I’d share more interesting learnings from this weeks’ conferences. I have learned a few things to tweak my beliefs about breastfeeding, food, formula , allergy and more.

One of them is about the generational effects of formula. Even though I had learned of this previously, I now understand it much more clearly.

Basically, we are affected in part, by what our grandmothers ate and were exposed to as well as our mothers and of course our own exposure. It is widely accepted that it takes at least 3 generations to fix what has become problematic. Some of these unfortunate outcomes were forced upon our predecessors such as war, famine, government and clever marketing campaigns, to dupe people into believing untruths because it suited someone else’ interests (think Hitler for an extreme case).

Allergy is an interesting, upsetting and confusing topic. Breastfeeding is the number one element in addressing this out of control issue. It is a complex issue and I am not suggesting that addressing it from only one angle will fix it.

As I understand it, if we can support and educate families to breastfeed babies exclusively for as long as possible (up to 6-9 months), avoid giving anything artificial for as long as possible (including formula), over a number of generations we can reduce the number of people with reactions.

There are a number of hurdles to achieving this, but it is up to us to be committed and make change for the better. This includes being sensitive to those who dearly wish to breastfeed but cannot for whatever reason.

I think in time, human milk sharing will return as an accepted and necessary part of life.

Until then, supporting and educating people widely about the benefits of breastfeeding is our best chance . We can do the by supporting more people to consciously choose to breastfeed rather than formula. Many think choosing formula over breastfeeding is like making a choice of rice bubbles over cornflakes.

I could easily write for days on the benefits of breastfeeding not only for the baby, but for the mother, father, family and community.
Education and adequate support with sensitivity is the best way forward.