This topic is currently being discussed in The White House and I know it is difficult to come up with one solution that will work for all but we do need to address this before we completely reverse our mortality rates.

I think that we need to start at the beginning of life. Women should think very carefully about having children before they do and be prepared to be responsible mothers. In my opinion, all babies should be given breast milk for the first 6 months of their lives unless there is a medical reason why they are unable to. NO baby should be given the milk of another animal just because its mother doesn’t feel like breast feeding. Children deserve the best start in life and milk made specifically for individual babies should be the nutrition of choice every time.

Breast feeding will help the mother get back her pre- pregnancy figure much more easily while at the same time allowing the mother time to bond with her ‘special gift’. Breast feeding on demand allows the baby to regulate their own nutrition whereas bottle feeding takes that away from the baby and can easily lead to over feeding and, in my opinion, early programming to over- indulge. Let’s promote breast feeding for all babies and encourage shops, restaurants and other businesses to provide suitable ‘feeding’ rooms for nursing mothers.