The Importance Of Breastfeeding To The
Muslim Child
11 Jan 2012
By Karin Friedemann
"The mothers shall give suck to their offspring for
two whole years, if the father desires to complete the
term. But he shall bear the cost of their food and
clothing on equitable terms…If they both decide on
weaning, by mutual consent, and after due
consultation, there is no blame on them. If ye decide
on a foster-mother for your offspring there is no
blame on you, provided ye pay (her) what ye offered,
on equitable terms. But fear Allah and know that Allah
sees well what ye do." (Quran 2:233)
Given the importance of breastfeeding in the Islamic
religion, the relatively low rates of compliance among
Muslim women in North America are puzzling. There are
small pockets of "fundamentalist" Muslim women who are
well educated and adamant about nursing their children
under their chadors, and who often practice natural
childbirth. However, those mothers who nurse their
babies past the age of one year are the exception
rather than the rule. There seems to be a lighthearted
attitude among the general Muslim populace towards the
bottle-feeding of infants. It is sometimes even
thought of as more modest to bottle-feed! Perhaps it
is a lack of education about the benefits of
breastfeeding, combined with an absence of a support
network to assist the new mother.
Transferring the child to animal and vegetable foods
before he even had any teeth was not done by the early
Muslims. The most likely option, if a mother declined
to breastfeed her infant, was the employment of a
wet-nurse for the child. For the newborn Muslim child,
the intimate breastfeeding relationship is a right. It
is beyond dispute that two full years of breast-milk
provide a baby with long-term health benefits such as
the prevention of ear infections and allergies, as
well as providing a foundation of trust between mother
and child. Scientific studies show that a bottle-fed
baby will be a weaker child.
"Weaning" is the gradual transfer from feeding the
baby exclusively breast-milk to table foods only. This
happens sometime during the toddler period of life,
usually between the ages of 1 and 3.
In Islamic terms, weaning is a process that is
administered by mutual consent between parents. But in
my conversations with sisters in various states who
had given up nursing in favor of bottle-feeding, there
is a sense of powerlessness over the situation. These
mothers often wanted very much to nurse their child.
But somehow, they lost their chance. This tragedy is
largely caused by a hospital system that does little
to promote exclusive breastfeeding of newborns. In
most hospitals, the new mothers receive free samples
of formula to take home, as a result of multi-million
dollar deals with pharmaceutical companies who pay the
doctors to promote their products. This practice is
highly unethical because little or no education about
the dangers of bottle-feeding the infant is given to
the new mothers. Many Muslim mothers, especially those
who don't speak English well, come home with their
babies already addicted to the bottle. Although at
this point, all is not yet beyond hope, coaxing a
small baby to breastfeed, after he has been bottle-fed
even just once or twice, can be a big struggle. It may
not succeed without the aid of a lactation counselor,
because unfortunately, even the older generation of
mothers and mothers-in-law often lack the knowledge of
how to breastfeed. Thus, the likelihood of
bottle-feeding is very high among immigrant and
minority women in the U.S.
When women have given up nursing out of a feeling of
powerlessness to get the baby to nurse, this is not a
mutual parental decision to wean, but rather the
result of lack of adequate help. Something is terribly
wrong when Muslim women are giving up breastfeeding
due to lack of education, counseling, and support. It
reveals a stripping away at the postnatal rights of
the Muslim woman to be in a state of rest for 40 days
after childbirth.
If the child is rejecting the breast, the most common
reaction is to try for a while, and then give up and
give him a bottle, but this teaches him that all he
has to do is fuss and refuse to nurse, and he will be
rewarded by a free-flowing bottle of formula. The only
solution to this power struggle is for the mother to
refuse to give the baby a bottle, even if it takes
several days for the baby to nurse willingly. (If the
baby gets dehydrated, he can take water with a cup or
medicine dropper). My eldest son was a sleepy baby,
born a couple weeks early. I had to set my alarm for
every three hours, take off his clothes and wipe him
down with water to get him screaming mad, in order for
him to just stay awake for a couple minutes to nurse
before he would blissfully fall asleep in my arms. The
first few days were terrifying and the emotional
pressure was intense. After two weeks he finally
opened his eyes, and he and I enjoyed a nursing
relationship that lasted over two years. Nursing can
be a strenuous effort that truly requires the full
support and help of the father, neighbors and other
family members, to allow the mother and child to be
together undisturbed as much as possible for the first
40 days of the baby's life.
Help is available. The ability to feed your child the
best that nature has to offer is your choice. Only
after a successful and long-lasting breastfeeding
relationship can weaning the baby truly be done by
mutual and conscious consent.
To locate a free breastfeeding consultant in your
area, call 1-800-LA-LECHE
Karin Friedemann is a Boston-based freelance
writer. karinfriedemann.blogspot.com
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EsinIslam.Com
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