Understanding Breastfeeding in 3rd World Countries using Bronfenbrenners Theory - Essay Example

Understanding Breastfeeding in 3rd World Countries using Bronfenbrenner’s Theory Abstract The breast-feeding trend of some impoverished, third world countries have been the major concern of the international organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). One of these low-income, 3rd world countries which benefits from “baby-friendly” programs include the Philippines. Since breast-feeding is a vital process which every infant must undergo, this paper aims to show the relevance of breast-feeding for babies and also, to inform the importance of understanding Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory as the explanation of important interrelated factors: the microsystem, macrosystem, exosystem, mesosystem, and chronosystem in life-span development. Understanding Breastfeeding in 3rd World Countries using Bronfenbrenner’s Theory Images of Life-Span Development The breast-feeding trend of some impoverished, third world countries have been the major concern of the international organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for as long as ten to fifteen years and one of these low-income, 3rd world countries include the Philippines. Since breast-feeding is a vital process which every infant must undergo, this paper aims to show the relevance of breast-feeding for babies and also, to inform the importance of understanding Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory as the explanation of important interrelated factors: the microsystem, macrosystem, exosystem, mesosystem, and chronosystem which all plays a role in every child’s physical, socio-cultural, and psychological, and cognitive development (Anderson et. al., 1999, p.525). Breast-feeding refers to the method of feeding a baby or an infant child with milk coming from a woman’s or a mother’s lactating breasts (Gartner, 2005, p. 296). Babies suck the milk out of woman’s breast with the use of their sucking reflex which allows the babies to swallow the milk. Thus, breast milk is considered as the most beneficial as it is best source of nutrients for babies (Picciano, 2001, p. 53). The third world countries are found to be facing an important developmental issue which concerns the health of newborn infants or babies. Due to the low economy of such third world countries, good sanitation, proper breast-feeding, and the needs of a growing infant are most of the time, taken for granted and neglected by parents or guardians which leads to different kinds of diseases that inflicts the infants and at worst, the poor sanitation and improper feeding of the babies oftentimes results to the infant’s death. Case of Bottle- and Breast-Feeding in Africa To better understand the impact that the ecological systems play together with the relevance of breast-feeding, two cases of newborn infants will be the next focus of discussion. A case of a newborn infant in Ghana, Africa (another third world country) named Latonya, is another example of negligence for baby’s health and well-being. Generally, the culture of the people in Ghana dejects and discourages breast-feeding as a way of feeding their babies. Moreover, Latonya, a baby girl, has been detached from her mother the moment she was delivered and the rest of her stage of infancy. Further, Latonya stays in the hospital which makes use subsidized milk powder provided by manufacturers for free. In so doing, Latonya has been bottle-fed with the free infant formula milk for the rest of her infancy. Latonya’s mother bottle-feeds her with the infant formula milk provided by the hospital and dilutes it with unclean, and unsafe water; in addition, the bottle which Latonya’s mother use to prepare her milk are unsafe as well—it was not sterilized for Latonya’s safety. Obviously, Latonya got so sick that she was not even able to reach her 1st birthday and passed away. On the other hand, another newborn child named Ramona, was born in the same third world country (Africa) but this time, in the region of Nigeria. Ramona’s mother breast-feeds her baby girl and the latter is born in a hospital in Nigeria where “baby-friendly” program is implemented. In this baby-friendly program, the attachment of the mother and the babies are valued; and so, the infants, when they are newly born, are not being separated from their mothers. Moreover, the mothers are persuaded to breast-feed their babies. The hazards and danger of bottle-feeding are explained thoroughly; plus, the life-threatening risk of using unclean, unsafe water and bottles which are unclean and not sterilized in feeding the sensitive, and prone to diseases delicate immune system of newborn infants. Furthermore, the citizens of Nigeria, Africa are educated of the relevance or importance of human breast milk for babies. Breast milk produce beneficial effects for infants for it provides many nutrients and hygienic qualities for them to be able to strengthen their immune system, protecting them from various threatening diseases which may inflict them. Put into account that human breast-feeding for babies also gives benefits to lactating mothers—making them less likely to suffer from ovary and breast cancer. Going back to Ramona’s case, she in turn reaches her 1 year as a very healthy, young infant. Method Participants 17,046 participants of the study conducted by Kramer et. al (2007) includes infants, and 81.5 percent or 13,889 of the infant participants are followed up after 7 years have passed. Procedure The procedures of this study which involves series of tests for infants were done by selected, licensed pediatricians and the questionnaire used to test the validity of this study on allergy symptoms is the ISAAC questionnaire (International Study of Asthma and Allergy in Childhood). The infants needed to undergo series of tests to prove that breast-feeding lowers the likelihood of allergies to occur in babies. The tests include pricking the skin for testing the antigens like Alternaria, dust mite, mixed type of northern grasses, cat, and a pollen from birch tree. Results Findings show that there is a significant increase of the test skin pricking which results to be positive with exclusive breastfeeding in a duration of 3 – 6 months; on the other hand, a result of = to or >6 months against the breast-feeding for less than 3 months was found in correlation with the five antigens. Therefore, the study showed that results are not supportive of the hypothesis that prolongation and exclusive breast-feeding for babies produced the allergies among infants. Discussion The data support Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological systems theory that all the systems in ecology (macrosystems, microsystems, mesosystem, exosystem, and chronosystem) to take part in improving and maintaining the proper sanitation and healthy environment the infants need as they grow and will continue to live. The organizations WHO, UNICEF, AAP, and also the International Association of Infant Formula Manufacturers established the “baby-friendly” programs in several countries, including the Philippines (Agostoni & Haschke, 2003, p. 181). The aforementioned organizations aim to promote breast-feeding for babies and persuade countries to refrain from promoting the use of baby formulas in hospitals especially among those countries where baby-friendly initiatives are tolerated and supported by their government and hospitals. Furthermore, most if not all of the third world countries like the Philippines, utilizes hazardous cheap-costing infant formula and bottles for milk-feeding; plus, the hospitals also allow the sharing of nurseries making separate rooms unnecessary. To be concrete, one example of the hospitals in the Philippines is the Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital, which was purportedly receiving “baby-friendly” programs implemented by the organizations and which was already reportedly saving 8 % of its yearly, annual monetary budget and costs (Kramer et. al, 2007). Physical Development in Infancy Hospitals play a vital part to influence mothers on feeding their babies (either breast-feeding or bottle-feeding). For several years, some maternity units have mistakenly promoted the use of bottle-feeding instead of breast-feeding babies out of lack of information from the benefits that the baby and the mother could get from breast-feeding (Gartner, 2005). From the initiative movements of the WHO, UNICEF, AAP, and other international organizations, the false notion is changing. However, there are still existing countries across the globe which believes in the misconception that bottle-feeding is better than breast-feeding and that countries are those which have not encountered any “baby-friendly” programs just yet. Further, babies need to undergo healthy start for their continuous growth and development (Agostoni & Haschke, 2003) Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory Urie Bronfenbrenner popularized his ecological theory last year 1917. He proposed that environmental factors and social settings play an important role in development. In connection to the developmental issue of breast-feeding, Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory purports to explain that an environmentalist view of system development is inclusive of the following (5) factors: the macrosystem, microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and the chronosystem. It is very essential to understand the meaning of the five systems as they are interrelated and affects each other; plus, it induces better understanding of the life-span development (Picciano, 2001). Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory is the environmental view of development consisting of various (5) environmental construct or systems in culture that interact with each other: the macrosystems—the culture at large where individuals interact and live; microsystems—the context or setting which individuals actively take part to influence its members; mesosystems—the connections or interactions existing between contexts; exosystem—the experiences in social setting (out of individual’s control, inevitable circumstances) which influences relationships; and last but not the least, the chronosystem—the system which involves dimension of time as a relevant factor in development; (Picciano, 2001). Application of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory In application to Bronfenbrenner’s theory, this paper defines macrosystem as the existing laws, customs, values, or simply, the beliefs of a specific culture (e. g. the case of Latonya in a third world country in Ghana, and whose culture discourages breast-feeding for infants)--this outermost layer of Bronfenbrenner’s model influences how individuals (mother) carry out their manner of feeding their babies, same with the case of Ramona, whose culture in Nigeria, Africa encourages breast-feeding for babies. The microsystem on the other hand, includes the activities, interactions in individual’s environment. It is the setting where interactions of family, peers, government take place (e. g. the hospital, in Latonya’s case wherein the hospital personnel allows infant formulas from manufacturers for free and allowed by the government, and at home with Ramona’s mother, where she is safer and more attached to her mother who directly nourishes and supervises her development) (Agostoni et. al., 2003). Mesosytem on the other hand is referred to as the relationship or connection between the Microsystems or contexts (family experiences to work experiences and to peer influences or experiences as well). Exosystem explains ecological theory in way that the experiences of individuals in a social setting influences individual’s perception and behavior (e.g. government laws influences how hospital’s policies are carried out, and so with the manner of disseminating information to public through media, and same with how the mothers would take or believe the information handed down to them with regard to breast-feeding and bottle-feeding). And lastly, chronosystem in this paper refers to the environmental system view that time dimension in relation to a child’s environmental setting. The internal or external elements of the system may be inclusive of the ff. factors: the timing of mother’s conception or delivery, physical changes that occur in the child’s features during infancy period, and the child’s reaction to environmental changes as it grows (Anderson et. al., 1999). Conclusion Breast-feeding refers to the method of feeding a baby or an infant child with milk coming from a woman’s or a mother’s lactating breasts. It is a vital feeding method which every child should undergo for the benefits and nutrients it gives the baby and the breast-feeding mother. The purpose of understanding the meaning of the Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory is to explain that every system in the environment influences each other on child’s development. Bronfenbrenner’s theory is the environmental view of development consisting of (5) environmental systems that interact with each other: the macrosystems—the culture at large where individuals interact; microsystems—the context or setting which individuals actively take part to influence its members; mesosystems—the connections or interactions existing between contexts; exosystem—the experiences in social setting (out of individual’s control, inevitable circumstances) which influences relationships; and last but not the least, the chronosystem—the system which involves dimension of time as a relevant factor in development. References Anderson J. W, Johnstone B. M, Remley D. T. (1999). Breast-feeding and cognitive development: a meta-analysis. American Journal Clinic Nutrition Journal. 70: 525-535.  Agostoni C., & Haschke, F. (2003). Infant formulas Recent Developments and New Issues. Minerva Pediatrics 55 (3): 181-94. Gartner, L. M. (2005). Breastfeeding and the use of human milk. Pediatrics. 115 (2): 296-506. Kramer, M., Matush, L., Vanilovich, I., & Platt, R. (2007). Effect of prolonged and exclusive breastfeeding on risk of allergy and asthma: cluster randomized trial. BMJ, 335. Picciano, M. (2001). Nutrient composition of human milk. Pediatrics Clinic North America 48 (1): 53-67. Read More