By: Yasmin Hammami
Introduction:
In recognition of Breastfeeding Awareness Month, it is important to highlight the benefits and options available for infant nutrition. Breastfeeding is often considered the gold standard for nourishing newborns, offering a range of health benefits for both mother and child. However, it’s essential to recognize that breastfeeding may not be feasible or the preferred choice for every family. Understanding the various feeding options and their respective benefits and challenges allows parents to make informed decisions that best suit their circumstances and values.
In the context of the Muslim community, breastfeeding holds additional significance. The Quran not only recommends breastfeeding for the first two years of a child’s life but also acknowledges it as a basic human right. This religious endorsement further underscores the importance of considering breastfeeding as a viable option for Muslim parents. Nevertheless, it’s crucial to remember that every family’s situation is unique, and the choice to breastfeed, use donor milk, or rely on infant formula is deeply personal. No matter what a parent chooses, understanding the benefits and risks of each option is vital to ensuring the best possible outcome for both the child and the parents.
In this blog post, we will explore the three main options for infant nutrition: breastfeeding, donor milk, and infant formula and aim to provide knowledge needed to make decisions that best for families.
- Breastfeeding
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life, and to continue breastfeeding for the first one to two years of life. Similarly, the Quran advocates for breastfeeding for two years, highlighting it as a fundamental human right, as seen in Surat al-Baqarah verse 233. (Van et al., 2023). The alignment of these recommendations underscores the universal recognition of breastfeeding’s value.
For mothers, breastfeeding provides profound physical health benefits. Numerous studies have shown that it can lower the risk of several types of cancer, including breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancer. Additionally, breastfeeding has been linked to reduced cardiovascular issues, such as hypertension (Iwuagwu et al., 2024). The mental health benefits are equally significant; the oxytocin released during breastfeeding can help
alleviate postpartum depression by lowering stress levels and fostering a sense of love and bonding towards the baby and partner (Iwuagwu et al., 2024).
Infants also reap substantial benefits from breastfeeding. Breast milk offers vital immune support and promotes gastrointestinal and neurodevelopment. Unlike infant formula, breast milk contains numerous hormones, enzymes, and immunoglobulins that are essential for a baby’s development (Green Corkins & Shurley, 2016). New studies have also shown that there are lifelong benefits of breastfeeding. For instance, a Canadian study found a correlation between breastfeeding and gray matter while another study showed an increase in white matter and total brain volume (Grevet et al., 2023). These developmental benefits are especially crucial for premature infants, who gain significant advantages from the nutritional and developmental support provided by breast milk.
As with any method of nutrition, breastfeeding has some drawbacks. It can be very time consuming and physically draining, which may be difficult to manage for breastfeeding people who work. Additionally, parents of preterm infants may struggle to lactate. Generational trauma is another valid reason that parents may opt out of breastfeeding. When enslaved Afrcians were brought to the US, they were bred and treated as cattle, with their breasts being described as an animal’s udders (Van et al., 2023). Thus, many African American people decide not to breastfeed as a way to express their bodily autonomy. A person’s decision to breastfeed or not is completely dependent on their wants and needs. If they decide not to, donor breast milk and infant formula are the most popular alternatives.
- Donor Milk
For parents who cannot breastfeed, but still wish to provide their infants with the benefits of breast milk, donor milk is a valuable alternative. Donor milk is breast milk that has been donated by lactating women, screened, and pasteurized to ensure its safety. This option can be beneficial for preterm infants or those with specific health needs that make breast milk the best nutritional choice.
In Islam, if a baby is nursed by another person at least five times, then a milk kinship is formed (Hamjah et al., 2022). This can impact who the infant’s mahrams are. Because of the possibility of kinship, many Muslims are hesitant to use donor milk. However, the Minnesota Islamic Council issues a fatwa (an Islamic ruling) that donor milk does not cause a milk kinship to form (Minnesota, 2023). This is because donor milk is combined
with the milk from many donors and pasteurized, so the milk does not come from one singular donor. Thus, donor milk should be considered by Muslims who prefer to avoid
infant formula. However, it should be noted that the pasteurization of the donor milk reduces some of the benefits of breastfeeding because some enzymes and probiotics deform due to the heat applied. Additionally, donor milk may be difficult to obtain because it is typically prioritized for preterm infants. However, many parents prefer donor milk due to the convenience similar to that of infant formula while maintaining their preference of natural breast milk.
- Infant Formula
Infant formula is a valid option for infant nutrition, especially when the infant is allergic to or cannot digest breastmilk, and/or when the feeding parent is unable to produce milk and does not have access to donor milk. While infant formula is necessary for certain families, it is also important to understand the potential risks associated with it. Firstly, many parents are susceptible to misleading advertisements by formula companies, portraying breastfeeding as inconvenient while claiming formula is the same, if not better, than natural breast milk (Pomeranz et al., n.d.). This can falsely diminish a person’s self-confidence in breastfeeding, which can actually impact lactation. It is also important to note that each step in making infant formula at home is another opportunity for bacterial exposure due to the lack of a sterile field (Green Corkins & Shurley, 2016). Additionally, infant formula consumption is associated with obesity and metabolic syndrome due to the high levels of protein in formula (Liotto, 2020). Although protein is essential for development, natural breast milk begins with high levels of protein but declines overtime, whereas infant formula remains fixed. This can also cause an increased stress on the infant’s kidneys because the kidneys need to work more to excrete the excess protein (Liotto, 2020). Another nutritional drawback of infant formula is that it lacks antibodies, hormones, and enzymes that are only found in breastmilk (Green Corkins & Shurley, 2016). These components of breastmilk significantly contribute to the healthy development of the immune system.
Whatever feeding option a parent chooses, it is crucial not to place any shame on them for their decisions. Each method is a valid choice, and so is a combination of all three. Most importantly, it is your right as a Muslim parent to breastfeed if that is what you want. If your work does not have a space for you to breastfeed or pump, advocate for yourself and exercise your Islamic right.
References
Green Corkins, K., & Shurley, T. (2016). What’s in the Bottle? A Review of Infant Formulas. Nutrition in Clinical Practice, 31(6), 723–729. https://doi.org/10.1177/0884533616669362
Grevet, L. T., Teixeira, D. S., Pan, P. M., Jackowski, A. P., Zugman, A., Miguel, E. C., Rohde, L. A., & Salum, G. A. (2023). The association between duration of breastfeeding and the trajectory of brain development from childhood to young adulthood: An 8-year longitudinal study. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-023-02283-9
Hamjah, S., Che Abdul Rahim, N., Muhammad Hashim, N., Bahari, N., Mohd. Kusrin, Z., Abdul Majid, L., Saidon, R., & Illias, M. Z. (2022). A quantitative study on Muslim milk mother’s understanding of the Islamic concept of wet nursing. PLoS ONE, 17(5), e0265592. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265592
Iwuagwu, C., Chen, M. J., Hoyt-Austin, A. E., Kair, L., Fix, M., & Schwarz, E. B. (2024). Awareness of the Maternal Health Benefits of Lactation Among U.S. Pregnant Individuals. Women’s Health Issues: Official Publication of the Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health, 34(3), 283–290. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.whi.2023.12.004
Liotto, N. (2020). Protein content of infant formula for the healthy full-term infant. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 111(5), 946–947. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/nqaa061
Minnesota, C. (2023, November 16). First-of-its-kind Islamic fatwa issued encouraging the use of pasteurized donor breast milk for Muslim babies in the hospital. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/first-of-its-kind-islamic-
Fatwa-issued-encouraging-the-use-of-pasteurized-donor-breast-
milk-for-muslim-babies-in-the-hospital-301991383.html
Pomeranz, J. L., Chu, X., Groza, O., Cohodes, M., & Harris, J. L. (n.d.). Breastmilk or infant formula? Content analysis of infant feeding advice on breastmilk substitute manufacturer websites. Public Health Nutrition, 26(5), 934–942. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980021003451
Van, T., Varadi, D., Adams, A. C., & Feldman-Winter, L. (2023). Promotion, Protection, and Support of Breastfeeding as a Human Right: A Narrative Review. Breastfeeding Medicine: The Official Journal of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, 18(8), 561–570. https://doi.org/10.1089/bfm.2023.0061
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