Are there any heavy metal pollutants in mother’s milk?

We belong to countries where cadmium, lead and mercury are present in breast milk and things must be avoided to reduce the contamination of these metals from water and food. The other two metals found are arsenic and manganese.

Most of the countries have banned lead from petrol and lead pipes in the houses. These have reduced the amount of lead in breast milk. Cadmium is accumulated quickly in the kidneys, thus only in low levels in blood as well as in breast milk are present. The prenatal trans-placental exposure to an infant is a much greater concern. Drinking water can be a source of heavy metal exposure. Methyl mercury comes from fishes and cadmium exposure from shell- fish is high. The baby instant food is a source of exposure for many metals including cadmium, aluminium and others.

Tobacco smoke contains also cadmium.

The millions of small batteries what we use and throw also contain lot of poisonous trace elements like lead, cadmium, etc. If possible use only rechargeable batteries.

Energy saving bulbs contains mercury and all these wastes are normally special poisonous wastes which should be destroyed in a careful way. Here recycling means getting raw materials from the poisonous waste.

Thermo papers for your laser printer contain mercury.

Lead salts with other salts are added with paints to make them dry quickly. Lead salts are sweet and the children like this taste and lick them. Observe them when they stand near the painted windows.

Reduce known exposure to poisonous metals as for as possible.

Is breast milk free of pollutants, toxins and heavy metals?

It is not pure and can contain several chemicals residues and few heavy metals. Still, our recommendation is to breastfeed as long as you can because the advantages are more than the disadvantages.
All the breast milks in this world contain residues of DDT or their metabolites, other pesticide residues and pollutant toxins such as dioxins. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzofuranes (PCDFs), polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs) are also often present. These are accumulated in the fat of the human beings. The simple way to minimise this risk is to increase the weight of the mother so that more body fat is available for the same amount of chemical residues in her body, thus the fat of the breast milk also contains less pesticide residues. This should be carefully planned with the help of your doctor and dietician because factors such as pregnancy high blood pressure and diabetes must be considered very cautiously.

Diet is a main factor which influences breast milk levels of persistent organic pollutants which come from fish consumption or living near agricultural land where pesticides and other chemicals are indiscriminately used.

Could you compare the situation in India and Germany?

In India doctors advise working mothers to breastfeed for at least for 6 months. But it is difficult for the working mothers here – they cannot get six months leave because of several reasons. This gives them and the babies many problems.

In Germany the situation is entirely different. The mothers’ jobs are protected from the law for 36 months. This means a mother can decide how long she would stay with her child. Within 36 months she could join at any time without problems. For the first year they get financial support from the government. This is called the so called “Baby Year” in Germany. Now-a-days there are husbands who opt for this “Baby year”. The reason is the far better income of the wife.

With all these facilities a German mother breastfeeds her child normally for four months.

What is the recommendation for breastfeeding?

The World Health Organization (WHO) urges its member states to strengthen activities “to protect, promote and support exclusive breastfeeding for six months as a global public health recommendation and to provide safe and appropriate complementary foods, with continued breastfeeding for up to two years of age or beyond”. It is because of the fact that breast milk provides the most complete form of nutrition for infants, protects from chronic diseases like asthma and diabetes. The benefits to the mother are the improvement of maternal health through the physiologic responses associated with breastfeeding. The German mothers breastfeed their infants normally for four months.

My personal opinion is 12 months. Such children have no or fewer allergies. Allergies are one of the biggest health problems today. If you have allergies your life quality comes down drastically. Why not 12 months?

Could cow milk be given at any time to an infant?

Cow milk could be given when the infant is more than one year old, otherwise the infant may develop an allergy to milk and milk products if the cow milk is given too early.

Moreover, the protein content of the cow milk is higher than that of the breast milk which can also give problems to the baby. Cow milk contains almost the same components of the breast milk. However, the amount of some components varies considerably and the antibodies which must protect them till they develop their own immune system are absent in cow milk.

What are the benefits to the infant?

The infant has to work hard to get the milk from mother’s breast. It helps the proper development of the jaws. The risk of allergies, asthma, respiratory and other infections can be decreased.

The infant has reduced risk for overweight, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.The infant has strong immune system and the risk of sudden infant death syndrome is decreased.

Breast milk and breast feeding

Breast milk contains the right amount of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, vitamins, digestive proteins and hormones which the babies need. Apart from this, breast milk contains antibodies from the mother which can help the baby to resist infections. These are not present in any of the infant’s formula.

What are the benefits to the mother?

The risk of osteoporosis, ovarian and breast cancer and the risk for diabetes-2 are decreased. The mother’s weight comes down quickly to pre-pregnancy level, uterus reaches its original size earlier and the menstrual cycle becomes also normal quickly.

The bond between mother and the baby becomes stronger. There is no or less depression after the child birth.

Mother milk costs nothing to other formula milks. Moreover, the milk bottle makes the baby lazy and that is not good for the whole life.