Though Mother Teresa was an especially great example for the faithful, her writing reminds us that the work of all the Church is saving souls and bringing them to Jesus.  Of course, when we speak of “saving souls,” we sometimes find ourselves cringing at such a loaded phrase.  “Salvation,” at least to many of us, conjures up not only beautiful images of heaven, but also frightening images of hell, fire and brimstone.  We think of the Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards and his image of God holding the sinner over the eternal fire like a spider about to be dropped to its death.

In this reflection, I would like to get away from the fire and brimstone aspect of “salvation” and recast the discussion about saving souls as a discussion about bringing little ones closer to God. Whatever else we may know or believe about the eternal destiny of souls, we know that heaven is the closest our souls can possibly be to God, and that hell is the farthest distance.  The absence of God for a soul is very basic to our Christian understanding of hell.  And we know that love is what brings a soul closer to God, and thus closer to salvation, at least in some small way.  Human acts of love lead other souls to God, and make others able to share that love further beyond themselves.   When we think of salvation in this (admittedly theologically and doctrinally limited) way, we can see how a mother’s love, expressed especially through breastfeeding, can be an instrument of that child’s salvation.

God created the mother-baby bond as the first human relationship in every soul’s life.  Human beings, even those still in the womb, learn love from the feeling of safety and goodness that comes from being nurtured by their mothers.  When a baby is born and put to breast, he immediately finds peace and comfort in the familiar feel, smell and sound of the mother’s body and in the taste of her first milk.  The shock of the birth is eased through the relaxing act of suckling and the pain is mitigated by the sweetness of the milk.  The baby learns quickly that warmth and comfort – not fear and cold and pain – are the rule in this new world.  This first experience of security is in reality the baby’s first physical experience of love.  Over the next many months, the mother’s body will become the baby’s habitat, if you will.  As the mother’s milk nourishes the baby and helps him grow, the physical and emotional closeness of the mother’s body communicates love and security in a nonverbal way the new human being is able to understand and absorb.

As the child continues to grow and the breastfeeding relationship matures, he learns to crawl and then to walk, and gradually forays farther and farther away from mother.  But even as the toddler begins to experiment with the wider world, he is reassured by the security and calm of her familiar “habitat” through the ability to return to the breast when needed.   Slowly, in accordance with the true meaning of the word “wean,” the child gradually becomes “fully satisfied.”  His body has been fully nourished with the goodness of his mother’s milk, first by itself and then alongside other foods, and now it is ready to replace the mother’s milk entirely with other nourishing foods.  Emotionally, he is ready to give up his physical place in the habitat of his mother’s body and become more independent and self-reliant.

For the breastfeeding child, the emotional, psychological and spiritual growth proceeds alongside the physical.  The child learns over and over again that he is loved, and this assurance helps him learn to love and give to others.  The assurance of his mother’s love is renewed with every return to her breast, even as the returns become less and less frequent as he grows.  When mothers reliably meet their children’s continued need to breastfeed, for as long as the need remains, they turn their love into a real physical act.  Similar to the self-donative aspect of the marriage act, the physical self-giving act of breastfeeding is a way of making a mother’s love physically present to a child.  When mothers do this, they echo Christ’s self-giving love to us, or the Blessed Mother’s giving of her own body to God.  Furthermore, when mothers nurse, they build their children’s sense of security and belief in their own lovableness.  They also increase their children’s capacity to give themselves in love later in life.

Since God IS love, any act which contributes to a person’s knowledge that he or she is loved, and which helps a person give more love to others brings that soul closer to God.  In this sense, then, we can see that breastfeeding our children can contribute in some small way to their “salvation.”   Pope Pius XII recognized this truth when he wrote:

We see in mothers those who exert the earliest and the most intimate influence upon the souls of the little ones and upon their growth in piety and virtue.

Surely there is no art more difficult and strenuous than that of fashioning the souls of children; for those souls are so very tender, so easily disfigured through some thoughtless influence or wrong advice, so difficult to guide aright and so lightly led astray.

This is the reason why, except where it is quite impossible, it is more desirable that the mother should feed her child at her own breast.  Who shall say what mysterious influences are exerted upon the growth of that little creature by the mother upon whom it depends entirely for its development.3

Of course, God’s own plan for the salvation of souls is much bigger than what any individual mother can provide on her own for her child.  Does this mean therefore that the choice to breastfeed is insignificant, that it doesn’t really matter?

Mother Teresa says that in this life, we can do no great things, “only small things with great love.”4 For her, making even one little child happy in the love of Jesus was worth the many sacrifices of her entire life.  Most moms I know often look around and think, “Well…I’m no ‘Mother Teresa’!”  That may be so, but even as “plain old” mothers at home, we can make it our goal to contribute to the salvation of the soul of at least one little child.  And for those of us with that one modest goal in mind, breastfeeding can be an excellent way to start.

Notes:

Times have certainly changed. A recent study revealed that 72% of mothers in the U.S. breastfeed their babies at least briefly.[1] Birthing practices such as rooming-in with newborns and delayed introduction of bottles and pacifiers have become more common. Mothers have a choice of breastfeeding support services, including professional lactation consultants, LLL groups, hospital-based mothers’ meetings and WIC peer counselors. Articles (of varying quality) on breastfeeding periodically turn up in newspapers and parenting magazines. Even the U.S. government has gotten into the act, having produced a controversial but widely-publicized campaign proclaiming that “Babies are born to be breastfed!”[2] A few mothers who are ambivalent about breastfeeding report feeling pressured by the many voices encouraging nursing as the healthiest option for their babies.

And yet…even with all this publicity and support, breastfeeding rates for babies at 6 months of age lag discouragingly behind the U.S. government’s public health goals, stalled at only 39%. Even fewer are nursing at the age of one year, the minimum length of time recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics for optimal infant health. Mothers who nurse their children for two years and beyond, in accordance with World Health Organization guidelines, hardly make it onto the general public’s radar, though a determined sub-culture of “extended breastfeeding” mothers exists, if one knows where to look. Most Americans only encounter toddler nursing through sensational, and (usually) inaccurate, portrayals in movies, TV dramas or daytime talk shows.

Why, then, with so much medical, scientific and government support, do not more mothers choose to nurse, or choose to nurse longer?

In their book Breastfeeding Made Simple: Seven Natural Laws for Nursing Mothers, Nancy Mohrbacher, IBCLC, and Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, Ph.D., IBCLC,[3] explore modern cultural barriers to breastfeeding. They describe how the rise of bottle-feeding in generations past has led to general ignorance about the way natural breastfeeding actually works. In the 1940s, 50s and 60s, a cultural preference for “scientific” mothering (replacing natural processes with new, “improved” man-made technology) led many to apply inappropriate bottle-feeding management techniques, such as scheduled every-four-hour feedings, to breastfeeding. Continued adherence to these principles contributes to breastfeeding failure for many moms even today. In addition, the authors explore the pervasive commercial pressures that undermine breastfeeding, such as unethical formula marketing, and the continuing lack of education among health care professionals on the needs of breastfeeding couples.

Additionally, they outline a number of beliefs about babies, parenting, and sexuality, common among some Christian parents, including many Catholics, which negatively affect breastfeeding initiation and duration. Examples include the belief that strict feeding schedules help prevent “spoiling”, that babies cry in order to manipulate their parents and that proper discipline begins early with “showing the baby who’s boss”. Some parenting organizations (including some Christian groups) advocate letting the baby “cry it out” between scheduled feedings and before going to sleep, practices which are, in fact, detrimental to the nursing relationship. Certain beliefs about modesty and the proper use of the body, appropriate in many other contexts, may also be a stumbling block for nursing moms, who may feel that breastfeeding is too limiting, requires them to stay at home too much, or prevents them from participating meaningfully in church or social functions. This is especially true if their own priest or fellow parishioners frown on nursing children at Mass or other parish gatherings.

Finally, some Christian childcare experts inadvertently undermine breastfeeding by emphasizing the primacy of the marital relationship to such an extent that the mother’s efforts to meet her child’s legitimate needs through breastfeeding on cue (also called “responsive breastfeeding”), or co-sleeping, are seen as damaging to the Christian marriage.

Although Catholic mothers have a great deal of Church support for their role and vocation in general, they are subject to the same cultural pressures experienced by all U.S. mothers in regard to breastfeeding. In addition, they often find themselves directed by friends, family or the media to certain rigid “Christian” parenting resources of the type described above, due to a perceived lack of resources reflecting a distinctly Catholic perspective on breastfeeding and the parenting of young children. [4]

Catholic mothers who faithfully follow Church teaching by avoiding the use of artificial contraception sometimes face even more challenges when their use of natural family planning (NFP) is complicated by postpartum irregularity in their fertility cycles. Breastfeeding mothers who use NFP often report an inclination to wean their babies early just to facilitate a return to more familiar NFP rules after regular cycles return. These mothers need special information, encouragement and support by knowledgeable teachers, as well as from other similarly-situated moms.

Catholic teaching and tradition offer lots of support for mothers who want to breastfeed their babies, and Catholic resources are available. Still, many Catholic moms don’t always know where to turn for faithful and reliable advice. Catholic moms need Catholic support! And Catholic support could be the key to helping more moms and babies enjoy the terrific benefits nursing can bring.

In a recent presentation to health care professionals in Detroit, Michigan (spring 2006), IBCLC Diane Wiessinger[5] encouraged the creation of breastfeeding “mini-cultures” as an effective way to increase breastfeeding rates among various groups of women. A “mini-culture” is a group of mothers who share something important in common. It could be their religion, their neighborhood, their school or professional affiliation – anything that makes the women in the group feel that they share a common bond. When women gather in groups with other like-minded mothers who breastfeed, it increases their confidence in their choice to nurse their own babies. Feeling they are not alone in their decision to breastfeed helps them persevere through challenges and difficulties.

Practically speaking, where can a Catholic mom turn for support? A number of resources are already available, and there is hope of many more to come!

For more than forty years, Catholic author Sheila Kippley has promoted breastfeeding through her writings, talks, and well-known book, Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing: How Ecological Breastfeeding Spaces Babies. In her newest book Breastfeeding And Catholic Motherhood: God’s Plan For You And Your Baby, Kippley has gone further to apply Pope John Paul II’s famous Theology of the Body to breastfeeding. Mary Shivanandan, STD, professor of theology at the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family in Washington, D.C., has recently integrated breastfeeding into her Theology of the Body curriculum. It is hoped that more Catholic scholars will follow suit and address this topic soon!

Some natural family planning organizations promote breastfeeding in their newsletters and classes. As breastfeeding rates increase in Catholic hospitals and among Catholic women, the sight of breastfeeding children at Mass, home schooling support meetings, Catholic school functions, and in playgroups and mothers’ groups will become more common as well. Moms can help by encouraging each other, and parishes can work harder to find out how to accommodate nursing mothers at parish functions.

With more education and encouragement, the entire Catholic community can help increase breastfeeding rates among Catholic moms. This will bring real benefits, physical, mental, emotional, and even spiritual, to our children, mothers, families, communities and society itself. Breastfeeding really does make a difference, and as Catholics, we have a great tradition of support for the family to guide us in our efforts.

In my inaugural column, I want to thank Lisa and CatholicMom.com for inviting my regular contributions on this topic. In this space I hope to share lots of research and resources, as well as provide motivation and encouragement for moms to embrace their vocation in the early years by mothering through breastfeeding.

[1] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control, 2005 National Immunization Survey: Breastfeeding Practices:

[2] http://www.4woman.gov/breastfeeding/index.cfm?page=Campaign

[3] Available at http://www.breastfeedingmadesimple.com.

[4] Dr. Gregory Popcak, Catholic author and psychotherapist, has written a very informative paper outlining the various trends in Christian parenting advice and has detailed their theological origin. He proposes a distinctly Catholic approach to parenting. A copy of this paper can be obtained by contacting Dr. Popcak at gpopcak@exceptionalmarriages.com. Popcak’s general theory about a theologically-consistent “Catholic” approach to childrearing is also found in his book Parenting with Grace: Catholic Parents® Guide to Raising (Almost) Perfect Kids, available at http://www.exceptionalmarriages.com.

[5] http://www.wiessinger.baka.com/bfing/index.html

Copyright 2010 Pamela Pilch

What I found was the introduction to a new way of life – a natural way, a loving way, a healthy way for myself and my baby and my family. I found a description of mothering and breastfeeding the way nature intended it, of the mother’s body as a habitat for her baby, and of an ecological relationship between mother and child, relying on both and contributing to the health and happiness of each. I found clear and accurate scientific information about lactation and fertility, much of which I had never seen anywhere else. (And as a mature woman with several years of marriage behind me, I wondered WHY I had never heard these facts before!) But more than this, I found sage advice about how to enjoy my baby and find fulfillment in motherhood itself from a smart, experienced writer who seemed, even at a distance in time and space, to care about me personally, as a woman and a mother. Sure, I learned all about the kind of breastfeeding that spaces babies – and as a result I enjoyed lengthy periods of amenorrhea between each of my three children. But even more, I learned the joy of mothering through breastfeeding. I learned how much easier mothering is when we work with nature rather than against.

Since that first discovery, I have proudly acquired and read every edition of Sheila Kippley’s book, Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing: How Ecological Breastfeeding Spaces Babies, as well as her other books and articles. I have recommended it to my friends and promoted it in mothers’ groups and at conferences. I have referred to it time and again, as I made the natural mothering lifestyle my own. With each new edition, clearer, evidence-based standards (the Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding) have evolved to assist mothers in maximizing the natural child spacing effect of breastfeeding. More importantly, with every revision of this book, ever more scientific and medical evidence has been available to support what Sheila Kippley had been saying all along!

Now even though the new editions of Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing: How Ecological Breastfeeding Spaces Babies have much to offer the modern mom, this classic 2nd edition, originally published by Harper and Row and rightly referred to as the “classic”, retains pride of place in my own heart. It has a freshness of style and a remarkable relevance to present cultural conditions. I find myself nodding as I read, thinking how much has changed since Mrs. Kippley wrote this book, and yet how much more has stayed the same. The practices and principles advocated here are as current as ever.

In the 21st Century, the ecology of natural mothering has a hip and trendy new nickname: “eco-breastfeeding”. Far from being a mere trend, however, the ecology itself – a human ecology – has never been more important to women, children, families, even to human society itself. Before there was “attachment parenting”…before the “organic revolution”…before anyone could measure his own “carbon footprint,” there was Sheila Kippley, promoting ecological breastfeeding, the only truly natural form of baby care there is. May this newly-reissued Classic edition reach many mothers, change many lives and preserve the wisdom inherent in this natural lifestyle for many generations to come.