**Mother’s milk and pseudoscientific breastmilk testing in Pakistan.
Mull DS.
Department of Family Medicine, University of California, Irvine 92717.
In urban squatter settlements and rural villages of Pakistan, human breastmilk is regarded as a potential source of destruction as well as of nurturance. Though it is highly valued as crucial for infant survival, it is also thought susceptible to becoming tainted in many ways: by a ‘shadow’ from the spirit world; by ‘evil eye’ or black magic due to others’ envy; by the effects of a new pregnancy; by the mother’s illness or ‘weakness’; by her exposure to excessive cold or heat; by her dietary indiscretions. In any of these circumstances, women may stop breastfeeding to prevent illness in the nursing child. Sometimes the stoppage is temporary, brief, and has no serious consequences. When the mother is pregnant, however, it is permanent. Further, if a child is sickly, cries a great deal, has prolonged diarrhea, or seems reluctant to suck, mothers frequently become alarmed and suspect irreversible breastmilk ‘poisoning’. In the latter case, a folk healer has traditionally been consulted to test the milk’s quality, but in recent years pathology laboratories have increasingly taken on this function in all of the major cities in Pakistan. Not only does the mother stop breastfeeding while the milk is being tested, but often she is unable or unwilling to resume nursing even if the milk is eventually pronounced safe to drink. This manifestation of inappropriate, child-endangering technology has gained acceptance partly because of maternal anxieties heightened by commercially-driven pressures to be ‘modern’ and partly because of its congruence with traditional ideas surrounding breastmilk, many of which have classical antecedents.**
Where did this come from? Please could you give me the link? Thanks.
Breastfeeding and breastmilk are surrounded by a lot of superstitions and beliefs. And as far as that goes, it’s understandable. Ignorance breeds such behaviour.
But when modern science and medicine are involved, there is no excuse for perpetrating such beliefs. The caretakers of peoples’ health need to be better informed and ethically correct.
Today we know that breastfeeding is the reason our species has survived to this day. If it weren’t for the incredible nutritive and protective (and other) properties of this white liquid, our species would have died out centuries, no, millennia ago.
Our problems stem from the introduction of commercial breastmilk substitutes. There is of course a strong push to market them to make money; moreover their use has resulted in a change in what is considered normal both in infant feeding and in infant and maternal behaviour.
If you are interested in this aspect a simple internet search using thw word “Nestlè” should turn up some interesting information. Baby Milk Action is a pressure group in the UK that is very active on this front.
The results of breastmilk testing, whether carried out using reliable machinery or not, are very difficult to interpret. Breastmilk is not a static, uniform substance and changes depending on many factors. The milk changes as the child grows older, not losing its properties but adapting to a child’s needs. It changes from the beginning of the feed to the end, becoming denser and creamier at the end, so that a child can satisfy its thirst at the beginning and the self-regulate the caloric intake at the end. If either mother or baby is ill the antibodies increase. We don’t know whether expressed breastmilk is the same as the milk a a baby removes from his mother’s breast as the extraction technique is different. So you can see whay the value of breast milk analysis is dubious.
Pakistan is however a country where the “Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative” is in full swing and there ARE consumer groups in action. See this link http://www.thenetwork.org.pk/breastf.htm
Yes, shirin, I totally see your point. However, this practice has been observed in small settlements and villages in Pakistan. I found the concept intriguing. These villages - they never cease to amaze me.
