Published scientific articles have recently promoted the environmental benefits of breastfeeding, especially due to the pollution of formula production and transportation, etc.
A mother who does ecological breastfeeding finds she needs no solid baby food and their jars, no pacifiers, no bottles, no stroller and no crib. Parents may want to purchase a high chair months later when the child is eating solids and wants to join the family dinner. Previously the baby may have been nursing while mom ate with the family.
No stroller? Not needed if mother uses baby carriers on her person when leaving the home.
No crib? Not needed when sharing sleep with your baby. There have been many articles and published research supporting the practice of mother and baby co-sharing sleep. At least 20 benefits for co-sharing sleep are listed in my book The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding.
When we lived in Canada, I knew a new mother who was practicing a form of ecological breastfeeding. She lived near a nursing school, and the director wanted some of the nursing students to visit her home so they could ask questions about her breastfeeding. Her home showed no indication by the furniture that there was a baby living in the home. Of course, the nurses asked, “Where is the crib?”
I spoke to a group of public health nurses in Canada, and most of them were incensed that I was promoting sleeping with the baby. The director who invited me slept with her baby! She believed that a mother is not enthusiastic about this practice until she does it. I certainly agree: I was also once adamantly opposed to sleeping with the baby, but changed.
A nurse friend used to visit the poor and insisted that they buy a crib when they did not have one for their baby. Experiencing a more natural form of breastfeeding and sleeping with her baby, she began to regret this old advice she pushed on the poor.
Nursing your baby is one job you can do in your sleep and the mother wakes up in the morning rested. Again all of these benefits are explained in my books on ecological breastfeeding.
Can co-sleeping be unsafe? Of course, but there are safe ways to sleep with your baby, and these safety guidelines are available at the links at the NFP International website (left column on the home page).
Sheila Kippley
The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding