VOA慢速英语2010年-Health Report - Breastfeeding, a Skill

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

This is World Breastfeeding Week. The celebration is now in its nineteenth year. It grew out of a meeting organized by UNICEF to find ways to support breastfeeding.

Jill Hall supports breastfeeding. In fact, she could be feeding her son right now.

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She gave birth to Thomas -- or Tiggy, as his parents call him -- at a hospital in Washington. They live in nearby McLean, Virginia.

Mother's milk is all Tiggy has eaten since he was born six weeks ago. And it will be all he eats for the first six months. His mother plans to follow the advice of the World Health Organization.

JILL HALL: "As you can see I can't tell right now whether he wants to eat more or whether he needs to burp, so we might try the burping.

Six-week-old babies generally breastfeed seven to nine times in a twenty-four-hour period.

Jill Hall has two stepdaughters, but Thomas is her first experience with breastfeeding. And, in her words, "It's going great."

Jill Hall with her son Thomas

JILL HALL: "It's pretty natural. You kind of learn from each other, mom and baby, how it's all going to work. And that can take a little bit of trial and error."Josie Tullo knows all about that. She works for a lactation consulting group in Fairfax, Virginia. She has more than twenty years of experience advising mothers. But she says babies themselves are great guides to nursing.

JOSIE TULLO: "When babies are born, babies have an instinctive¹ need, they're hard-wired to breastfeed. So basically, if we were to place a baby on the mother's abdomen², the baby would actually crawl up the mother's chest and choose which breast it would like to latch³ on to. The baby will open its mouth twice, the second time with a nice wide mouth, and lean in to grasp the breast. That's the mother's cue to hug the baby to the breast."

Doctor Bernadette Daelmans is an expert on newborn and child health development for the World Health Organization. She offers estimates from the WHO and UNICEF about how many young lives could be saved through breastfeeding.

BERNADETTE DAELMANS: "If children were exclusively breastfed for six months, continued to breastfeed up to two years, with appropriate additional food from six months onwards, we could save 1.5 million children under five years of age out the 8.8 million that we estimate to die currently every year."

Breastfeeding reduces the chances of infections in the first few hours of life. Later, it reduces the chances of stomach and intestinal⁴ infections in babies.

Researchers say babies who are breastfed often grow up to have lower blood pressure and cholesterol⁵ as adults. They are less likely to be overweight and have type two diabetes⁶.

Health studies also point to other benefits for the baby and the mother.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver⁷. You can read, download and comment on our reports at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Shirley Griffith.

 

1 instinctive   

adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的

参考例句：

• He tried to conceal his instinctive revulsion at the idea.他试图饰盖自己对这一想法本能的厌恶。
• Animals have an instinctive fear of fire.动物本能地怕火。

2 abdomen   

n.腹，下腹(胸部到腿部的部分)

参考例句：

• How to know to there is ascarid inside abdomen?怎样知道肚子里面有蛔虫？
• He was anxious about an off-and-on pain the abdomen.他因时隐时现的腹痛而焦虑。

3 latch   

n.门闩，窗闩；弹簧锁

参考例句：

• She laid her hand on the latch of the door.她把手放在门闩上。
• The repairman installed an iron latch on the door.修理工在门上安了铁门闩。

4 intestinal   

adj.肠的；肠壁；肠道细菌

参考例句：

• A few other conditions are in high intestinal obstruction. 其它少数情况是高位肠梗阻。 来自辞典例句
• This complication has occasionally occurred following the use of intestinal antiseptics. 这种并发症偶而发生在使用肠道抗菌剂上。 来自辞典例句

5 cholesterol   

n.（U）胆固醇

参考例句：

• There is cholesterol in the cell of body.人体细胞里有胆固醇。
• They are determining the serum-protein and cholesterol levels.他们正在测定血清蛋白和胆固醇的浓度。

6 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

7 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。