Once again, the benefits of breastfeeding are in the news. A study recently published in the November Journal of the American Medical Association claims that breast-feeding may protect mothers from developing Type II diabetes. Although the study’s findings are somewhat in dispute, everyone agrees that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. However, when it comes to encouraging nature’s way to feed babies, our local hospitals and obstetricians do not seem to be getting the message. Some nursing advocates are charging that formula manufacturers’ intense marketing of their product to the medical industry is to blame.

Months ago, I received an e-mail containing an article from Mothering Magazine, “Formula for Profit: How Marketing Breast milk Substitutes Undermines the Health of Babies.” I relegated this information to the back of my mind because it has been 20 years since I’ve personally dealt with the issue. On November 15, however, my latest grandson was born in St. Vincent’s Hospital at Staten Island, and as I watched the tiny newborns behind the viewing window I couldn’t help but notice the tiny bottles of Similac in each cot. My daughter was attempting to nurse her son and I expected to see a water bottle in his cot, but this was not the case. Apparently, the formula is the standard fare unless the mother insists on water only. New mothers do not always know they have that option.

Somehow, I had expected that all hospitals had become more enlightened since I was a young mother, but that’s not always the case.

My decision to nurse was not made from a heightened sense of health benefits for my child or a concern for the environment. I did not consider myself an earth mother, and I was not acting out my Aquarian nature to be a maverick. I simply did not want to deal with the mess involved with bottles and sterilizers, or the cost. If breast-feeding is the best method for nourishing a baby, why do so many women give up after a short while? What appears to be second nature to mothers in most undeveloped countries seems to be too difficult for modern American women. Chauvinist critics of the women’s movement have charged that liberated women are more self-centered and unable to deal with the inconvenience of full-time nursing. Speaking from personal experience, I disagree and say the answer is considerably more complicated.

Most modern women are not surrounded by experienced nursers, as are the women in undeveloped countries. Unless a mother is properly prepared for the experience, breast-feeding can be very – no, make that extremely – painful. Obstetricians should be advising their patients to begin toughening their nipples months before delivery, but they rarely even inquire whether their patients plan to nurse.

Pediatricians always recommend breastfeeding, but by the time they get to meet the mothers it’s too late. Newborns may be toothless, but the amount of pressure they can exert on tender tissue can be comparable to the chomp of a crocodile. Fortunately, my experienced Southern mother-in-law was a godsend who helped me enormously, as did the nurses at Lenox Hill Hospital, which was the only institution that I felt supported my efforts. At Bellevue Hospital and St. Vincent’s, the nursing staff barely acknowledged my choice to breast-feed and did nothing to encourage other mothers to follow my example.

Nursing babies are difficult to handle in the nursery because nature increases their hunger in order to stimulate their mothers’ supplies of milk. It’s much easier for a nurse to feed a squalling newborn with a bottle, but this can hamper the baby’s adjustment to the mother’s body. Babies have to work harder to get nourishment from the mother, whose milk doesn’t come in until at least the second day after delivery. What the baby does receive if put immediately on the breast is colostrum, a wonder substance that contains antibodies and helps the baby purge any waste accumulated while in utero. This benefit cannot be duplicated by man. At the very least, all hospitals should be encouraging new mothers to give their babies this miracle safeguard against disease.

The Mothering article says the groups that receive generous contributions from the formula industry include the American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses. Whether hospitals and other institutions accept them is not the issue. They still have the responsibility to encourage the best care for their youngest patients.

Breast-feeding means healthier babies, healthier children, and fewer medical expenses, yet we’re a society that seems to be impressed by all that is fake. Untalented starlets have made whole careers out of their silicone enhancements. What a pity our hospitals and doctors have also lost respect for the natural function of the real deal.