Consequences of Stress on Child Development

I taught first grade for 7 years.  All of those years were spent teaching at an inner city charter school in Indianapolis.  85% of our students were free lunches, behavior was huge challenge schoolwide, and we had very low parent involvment. 

The effects of poverty, hunger, chaos, and violence could be seen some of my students' performaces in the classroom.  One particular student I remember was a six year old boy.  This child was so tired everyday.  He often fell asleep during instruction and independent work.  One day he came to school and seemed even worse than usual.  At recess that day he told me about how his night had gone the previous night.  He was sleeping in his bedroom, when his door flung open and closed, his mother's boyfriend ran in very quickly and hid under the covers next to my student.  Minutes later my student heard loud yelling voice outside his bedroom door.  The police then busted down his door, ripped back the covers, handcuffed and arrested his mom's boyfriend.  My student not only watched it all, but was right in the middle of it.  The interesting part about all of this is that he acted like it wasn't that big of deal, kind of like it just interrupted his sleep a little.  It really made me start thinking about what kind of true chaos and violence this young child sees on a daily basis.  This chaos affected him physically, mentally, and emotionally.  He should be in middle school right now, and I often think about how he is doing.  I have no doubts that this stress as a young child has had lasting effect on him.

My brother-in-law just returned from Afghanistan, so I was curious about how the war effects this children in this region.  Not only are Afghani children experiences the stress of war, but they are also faced with violence, trauma, chaos, abuse, and poverty.  One consequence of facing these stressors is post-traumatic stress disorder.  According to Science Daily, some of the solutions to this problem are "better education, immediate mental health interventions and treatment after a violent conflict, and humanitarian assistance for trauma-affected populations in resource-poor countries."  Knowing the lasting affects war can have on grown adults who return back to civilian life, really makes me scared for how much more damaging life like this can have for children who aren't removed from it. 

Source taken from: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090623112106.htm

Breastfeeding: USA vs. Kenya

I have been on both sides of the breastfeeding debate (Breastmilk VS Formula).  In the United States, it is entirely a woman's choice about whether she wants to breastfeed her infant or bottle feed using formula.  The Center for Disease Control states that "high breastfeeding initiation rates (3 out of 4) show that most mothers in the United States want to breastfeed and are trying to do so. However, even from the very start, mothers may not be getting the breastfeeding support they need.  Low breastfeeding rates at 3, 6, and 12 months illustrate that mothers continue to face multiple barriers to breastfeeding". 

With my first child, I was dead set on breastfeeding.  She was born almost 2 months early, was born with a heart defect, weighed less than 4 lbs, and was in an isolette during her first weeks.  She was unable to maintain her body temperature and had not yet mastered the breathing, sucking, swallowing technique.  Therefore, for her first 2 weeks of life I used a breast pump, and fed her breastmilk through a bottle.  At 2 weeks old, she finally started getting the hang of breastfeeding.  During feedings, I had to watch her monitors very closely.  Due to her heart defect, her oxygen levels were in the 80's, which is low.  When she was nursing, she had dips that dropped down to the 60's.  Her alarms would sound, and we would have to stop.

One week later, when my daughter went into surgery for a double hernia repair, we discovered the real culprit to the dips in her oxygen as well as the problems with her sucking and swallowing.  My daughter's trachea (airway) was the size of a pinhole.  This problem required her to have a tracheostomy put in immediately until her doctor's could repair her airway when she was over 12 months of age.  Due to having a tracheostomy, and problems with aspirating, I was not allowed to breastfeed her.  For the following 6 months, I pumped my breastmilk and fed her through a bottle.  The breastmilk had to be thickened with rice cereal to prevent any aspirating.  When she was about 6 months old, I returned to work.  Teaching elementary school, pumping multiple times a day, and taking care of my special needs child proved to be too much for me to handle.  At that time, I chose to give up breastfeeding.  My daughter recieved formula until she was 1.

My second daughter, who is now 19 months old, was breastfed for 13 months.  Her birth was completely different, weighed in at 7 lbs 8 oz, and is completely healthy.  So as you can see, I have been on both ends of breastfeeding.  I encountered a barrier with my first child that stopped me from breastfeeding her.  Breastfeeding may be my feeding option of choice for my children, and I do feel that there is a health benefit related to breastfeeding, but I know it is not for everyone.  I have friends who try for months to breastfeed, but their milk supply diminishes too early, I have a cousin who never had any milk come in, and I also have a sister-in-law who chose not to breastfeed at all.  I see nothing wrong with any of these scenarios, and am very happy that breastfeeding is a mother's choice.

I took a look at breastfeeding in Kenya to get an idea what is the norm.  I found a great chart from Unicef that shows the feeding norms by age (in months).  As seen below, it appears less children start out  

exclusively breastfeeding in Kenya (30%) than in the United States (75%).  I was also shocked to see how many infants were given water and complimentary foods along with their breastmilk.   

Facts for Life is an organization stating facts about certain topics, with one being breastfeeding.  As stated on the Facts for Life website:

• Babies who are breastfed are generally healthier and achieve optimal growth and development compared to those who are fed formula milk.
• If the vast majority of babies were exclusively fed breastmilk in their first six months of life – meaning only breastmilk and no other liquids or solids, not even water – it is estimated that the lives of at least 1.2 million children would be saved every year. If children continue to be breastfed up to two years and beyond, the health and development of millions of children would be greatly improved.
• Almost every mother can breastfeed successfully. All mothers, particularly those who might lack the confidence to breastfeed, need the encouragement and practical support of the baby's father and their families, friends and relatives. Health workers, community workers, women's organizations and employers can also provide support.

What I take from all this is that it appears sometimes women are not given the support needed to be successful with breastfeeding.  Some organizations are starting initiatives to train more breastfeeding counselors and send them into other countries to educate the mother's about the benefits and methods of breastfeeding.  I think breastfeeding can have clear benefits emotionally, cognitively, and physically for developing children.  Hopefully getting more trained professionals, educating the public, and creating health facilities equiped to support breastfeeding mothers will show in increase in overall breastfeeding, therefore an increase in many developmental domains. 



*Information taken from:
http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/data/reportcard.htm

http://www.childinfo.org/breastfeeding_kenya.html

http://www.factsforlifeglobal.org/04/