Environmental Benefits of Breastfeeding
Help save the planet and go green through your commitment to breastfeeding. Find out how nursing your baby gives back to the earth:
1. Good for the environment
Everyone is being encouraged to go green these days. Breastfeeding requires less waste from packaged products such as wrappers, canisters and disposable bottlers. In an article titled “Mother Nature Loves Breast milk, D Michels states, “If every child in America were bottle-fed, almost 86,000 tons of tin would be needed to produce 550 million cans for one year’s worth of formula. If every mother in Great Britain breastfed, 3000 tons of paper (used for formula labels) would be saved in a year. But formula is not the only problem. Bottles and nipples require plastic, glass, rubber, and silicon; production of these materials can be resource-intensive and often leads to end-products that are not-recyclable. All these products use natural resources, cause pollution in their manufacture and distribution and create trash in their packaging, promotion, and disposal.”
2. Formula can use genetically modified ingredients
The US government does not require foods to state if they have been genetically modified or not. Many of the top brands of formula have been tested and found to contain genetically engineered ingredients. Breast milk on the other hand is not genetically modified at all.
3. Breast milk has no artificial growth hormones
Modern cows are routinely injected with growth hormones to artificially increase milk production. These growth hormones are likely to find their way into formula too.
4. Reduces waste
This also helps to reduce the amount of waste we create which helps the environment. Breast milk is also more easily absorbed compared to formula which results in less excretement and fewer diaper changes. This is even more good news for the planet as fewer diapers will find their way into landfill.
References:http://boobiefed.com/reasons-why-breastfeeding-is-best worth of formula.
