Abu Dawood and Ibn Majah narrated with a hasan isnad from the Prophet, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him: “Whoever is given milk to drink, let him say, ‘O Allah bless it for us, and give us more of it,’ for there is nothing that takes the place of both food and drink except milk.”
Ibn Al-Qayyim, may Allah have Mercy upon him, said in Al-Tibb An-Nabawi, quoting from Ibn ‘Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, “The most beloved of drinks to the Prophet, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, was milk.” (Abu Na‘eem in Al-Tibb: there is some weakness in it)
Milk is one of the signs of Allah, the Exalted, in this universe. Did He not say in His Book:
“And verily, in the cattle, there is a lesson for you. We give you to drink of that which is in their bellies, from between excretions and blood, pure milk; palatable to the drinkers.” (Soorah Al-Nahl, 16:66).
It is also one of the pleasures and blessings enjoyed by the people of Paradise, as Allah says:
“The description of Paradise which the Muttaqoon (the pious) have been promised (is that) in it are rivers of water the taste and smell of which are not changed, rivers of milk of which the taste never changes, rivers of wine delicious to those who drink, and rivers of clarified honey (clear and pure) therein for them is every kind of fruit…” (Soorah Muhammad, 47:150).
Modern science -- as stated in research by Dr. Hisham Al-Khateeb -- has proved that milk is the only food which actually contains all the basic substances needed by the human body. Milk contains: sugar, fats, minerals, iron, sodium, and vitamins A, B and C. The most suitable time to consume milk is in the early morning and it is not good to consume it with foods that are high in protein such as foul (fava beans), chickpeas, meat, fish and chicken. It may be eaten with eggs. Milk contains the following substances,
• Fats: The fat in milk is present in the form of round droplets, hence the milk loses a great deal of its nutritional characteristics when the cream, which is formed of this fat, is removed.
• Protein: This is of two types. The first is the caseinogen and the second is lactalbumin. These two compounds give milk a very high nutritional value, and are distinguished by the fact that they are complete proteins.
• Minerals: The most important minerals present in milk are sodium, calcium, magnesium, and potassium.
• Vitamins: Milk contains all the vitamins, so it contains vitamins A, B, B2, B12, C, D, E, but it mostly contains vitamins A and D, and it is low in vitamin C. Adding orange juice to it will compensate for this lack.
• Starches: Which produce the necessary energy to help man to be active and move. Man has known of milk and its value for thousands of years; they knew that it is the most important food for children and the most easily digested by the elderly and the sick.
Milk strengthens children’s bones and makes them taller; it replaces dead cells and prevents the disease of rickets. It strengthens their teeth because it contains calcium and phosphorus in abundant amounts and in an easily absorbed form. It is also beneficial for the chest and lungs. Milk is regarded as nourishment and a remedy for liver patients because milk is composed of lactose which prevents the absorption of some substances in the intestine which could cause liver failure. It is certain that some of the proteins found in milk are not available in other foods. It has been proved that refraining from consuming proteins for 10 days leads to an imbalance in blood proteins. Milk is also good for the nerves. Athletes in northern Europe understand its importance and they started using it as their main nourishment to help them in bodybuilding.
Cows’ milk may take the place of mother’s milk in cases where the mother is unable to feed the child herself. At this point we must confirm that there is no comparison between the milk of any animal, whatever it may be, and the mother’s milk as the perfect nutrition for the infant. We say that only in cases where the mother is unable to breastfeed her infant, then the child may be given cow’s milk, after adding what it lacks, by means of supplements.
Ahmad and Al-Nasa’i narrated from the Prophet, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, that he said: “Allah does not create any disease but He also creates the remedy for it. You should drink cow’s milk, for it eats from all plants.”
Modern science has confirmed that cows’ milk nourishes the body, and it is the best kind of milk, the most balanced and the most beneficial for humans and especially for children.
It was reported that the Prophet, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, said: “In the urine and milk of camels there is healing for those who have a disease called Dharibah in their stomachs.”
Dharibah is a disease which affects the stomach, so it is unable to digest food and the food spoils in the stomach. Camel’s milk is rich in fat and is very beneficial to those who are able to drink it, as it is an antidote to poison.
Conclusion
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In the Book of Food and Nutrition (1989 edition) it says: Milk is regarded as the most complete nutrient on the face of the Earth, as it is designed to be nourishment for all newborns of mammals (such as cattle, goats and sheep) as well as man. Thus it guarantees sufficient nutrition. Despite that, milk is low in vitamin C and iron, but infants are born with sufficient amounts of iron and vitamin C in their bodies to last them for several weeks.
What is amazing is that the nutritional elements of milk appear in a form that is easily digested and nothing is wasted during absorption in the intestine except a little. Milk is not only good nutrition for children; it also provides good nutrition for all ages.
In 1985, the famous medical journal The Lancet published a study by Dr. Garland from the University of California in the United States. He studied the food consumed by 1,000 men over a period of 20 years, and he found that those who drank 2 1/2 cups of milk every day were far less likely to get colon cancer than those who did not drink milk. Hence, Dr. Garland’s advice was that people should drink between two and 3 cups of low fat milk to protect against cancer of the colon. There is another study from Japan which indicates that drinking milk reduces the risk of stomach cancer. It is well known to most people that drinking milk, for those who have stomach ulcers, reduces the pain of the ulcer. Scientists at the University of New York in the United States have discovered that milk contains a substance called prostaglandin which protects against ulcers. It may be noted that there are many cases of stomach and intestine infection in children, but this sickness may be protected against if we give our children full-fat milk.
Decreasing Breastfeeding a Loss to Immunity
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By Dr. Mohammed Ali Al-Barr
Allah, the Exalted, says in His Holy Book:
“The mothers shall suckle to their children for two whole years, (that is) for those (parents) who desire to complete the term of suckling, but the father of the child shall bear the cost of the mother’s food and clothing on a reasonable basis. No person shall have a burden laid on him greater than he can bear. No mother shall be treated unfairly on account of her child, or father on account of his child. And on the (father’s) heir is incumbent the like of that (which was incumbent on the father). If they both decide on weaning, by mutual consent, and after due consultation, there is no sin on them. And if you decide on a foster suckling-mother for your children, there is no sin on you, provided you pay (the mother) what you agreed (to give her) on reasonable basis. And fear Allah and know that Allah is All-Seer of what you do.” (Soorah Al-Baqarah, 2:233).
Mankind did not know the giving of animal milk to human infants on a large scale until the 20th century. This new wave began during World War I, because of European women going out of the home and the fact that many mothers were preoccupied with the war effort.
Then the matter got worse when European women started going out to work, and this increase continued until the beginning of World War II, when production of powdered milk was reduced because of the war, but the matter got worse than ever after the war ended in 1945.
Use of powdered milk in other industrialized nations continued to rise during the 1950s and 1960s.
But since the beginning of the 1970s and until today, there has been increased awareness of the importance of breastfeeding, as the result of a great deal of research which has proved the benefits of breastfeeding and the harm of using powdered milk for human children. Breastfeeding rates began to increase day after day in industrially advanced countries, despite the many obstacles put in the way of breastfeeding, the most important of which was women’s going out to work and not being free to breastfeed, which led global organizations to increase the length of maternity leave to 2 months instead of two weeks, and to provide a place close to the workplace where the breastfeeding mother can go back to her child every three hours to breastfeed him, and then come back to work.
This system is widespread in the United States. Companies and government departments realized that providing a suitable place to take care of nursing infants during the mother’s work hours and allowing the woman to breastfeed her child did not affect her work and did not reduce her productivity; rather the woman’s work performance was improved after she checked on her child and breastfed him.
However, in developing nations (Third World), breastfeeding was the basic means of nourishing and feeding infants, and if the mother could not breastfeed her child for any reason, wet nurses would play this role, either for pay or voluntarily. Until recently, a child would be breastfed by his mother or by one of her relatives or neighbours. The child might be breastfed by more than one woman. This was very widespread. The Prophet, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, was breastfed by his mother, Aminah Bint Wahb, and by Halimah Al-Sa‘diyah; he was also breastfed by Thuwaybah, the freed slave woman of Abu Lahab – she is the bondswoman whom he set free when he was told of the birth of the Prophet, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, and it is because of her that the punishment is reduced for him every Monday, as it says in Saheeh Muslim, because of his joy at the birth of the Prophet, blessings and peace of Allah be upon him.
With the wave of Westernization, breastfeeding began to decrease in the Third World. Powdered milk companies realised that their future was in the Third World with its high population and high fertility rates. So they intensified their advertising campaigns; at the beginning of the 80s they were selling two billion dollars every year to poor countries in the Third World. These companies played an important role in the decrease in breastfeeding in the Third World, in addition to changing lifestyles and spreading education of girls and women’s going out to work. A great deal of research has shown that mothers have neglected breastfeeding and resorted to bottles and powdered milk with the increase in education, migration to the cities and women’s entering the workforce.
In a study carried out in Chile (Latin America), and published in the Saudi Medical Journal in 1981, it says that 80 percent of mothers were breastfeeding their children at the age of six months in 1940. But by 1974, the situation had changed completely, in that 77 percent of women in the villages had replaced breastfeeding with bottle-feeding. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Prof. Doctor Zuhayr Al-Siba’i found in 1967 that 90 percent of mothers weaned their children by age two, and almost all children from the age of six months were breastfed. That was in the region of Turbah. But this good trend had changed tremendously by the beginning of 1981 and only a small percentage completed breastfeeding for two years.
Other researchers found the same dangerous trend, as Dr. Al-Nasir says in his research on breastfeeding in the villages of Tihamah in Saudi Arabia that most mothers breastfed only for a few months, then they resorted to bottle-feeding. Dr. Munirah Bahsin found out in her study of 198 children in the eastern region in 1981 that only 46 percent of mothers were breastfeeding their children.
In research by Dr. Lusan in the military hospital in Riyadh in 1981, it was shown that 41 percent of children were bottle-fed when they reached the age of six months, and that the other 59 percent were fed by breast and bottle at the same time.
In research by Janet Ilyas which included 510 children in health care centers in the Kingdom, it showed that only 38 percent of children were being breastfed by their mothers by the age of six months. The rest were being bottle-fed. A similar study undertaken by Dr. Rufaidah Khashuqji and Khalid Madani in the Western Region showed that a few months after birth, breastfeeding had fallen by 95 percent.
Dr. Haq attributed the reasons for the fall in breastfeeding in Riyadh in 1983 to the following:
• Westernization and the influence of Western culture
• Education: The more educated a girl is, the less likely she is to breastfeed her children
• Mothers working outside the home
• Availability of powdered milk of various kinds, and persuasive adverts promoting its use
It was mentioned in a paper on the history of trends in breastfeeding, presented at a seminar on breastfeeding that was held in the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh in 1983 that powdered milk companies played an important role, and are still doing so, in the decline of breastfeeding in developing nations. What makes the problem more complex is what many hospitals do of taking the newborn away from his mother and preventing the mother from breastfeeding him for two or three days. During that time the newborn is given a bottle and a glucose solution and powdered milk. What makes matters worse is that when the mother leaves hospital she is given some cans of milk as a gift from the milk companies!
Dr. Al-Shadhili agrees in his research with the conclusion reached by Dr. Haq about the reasons why breastfeeding is being neglected or abandoned, but he put them in a different order:
• Women’s working
• Westernization and migration to the cities
• Powerful advertizing by the milk companies
• Use of the birth control pill (hormones)
Dr. Furaih states that in Riyadh there are 36 types of powdered milk; even in the villages outside Riyadh there are 12 types of powdered milk. In his opinion this is one of the most important reasons for the decline of breastfeeding.
In a comprehensive study on breastfeeding by Dr. Muhammad Sikkeet in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the researcher found that 8 percent of newborns (immediately after birth) were fed by bottle, but the rate increased to 30 percent after six months, and increased to 60 percent when they reached the age of one.
From this comprehensive study it became clear that illiterate women breastfeed on average for one year and 50 days, whereas a woman with elementary education breastfeeds for 10 months only; the rate falls even further if the woman has a secondary education, to 8 1/2 months. If she has graduated from university the average length of breastfeeding is five months only. These alarming results indicate that education is not serving its purpose; rather the opposite is the case. This requires a complete overhaul of existing educational curricula, the levels of breastfeeding are supposed to increase with increasing education, as is the case today in Europe and the United States, where we see that rates of breastfeeding increase with level of education. The benefits of breastfeeding are innumerable and unlimited, and we will mention briefly some of them later on. Dr. Sikkeet and his companions found that the woman who lives in the countryside breastfeeds on average for 14 months, whereas the woman who lives in the city breastfeeds for only 9 1/2 months. They also found that the higher the family's income, the lower the rates of breastfeeding.
In families whose income was less than $250 per month, mothers breastfed for 14 1/2 months, whereas in families whose income was more than $1500 per month, the mothers breastfed for seven months only. Housewives, who do not go out to work, breastfeed for 13 months on an average, whereas women who work outside homes breastfeed for only six months.
It is strange indeed that researchers found that women who give birth in hospitals breastfeed for nine and a half months, whereas those who give birth at home breastfeed for one year and 15 days on average. This is a strange phenomenon which is indicative of poor service by our hospitals, as they prevent the mother from breastfeeding her child for one or two days, then when she leaves hospital they give her a gift of powdered milk.
This was the situation in the 1980s. But now the situation has changed by the grace of Allah, the Almighty, in the overwhelming majority of both government and private hospitals. Now they encourage the mother to breastfeed her child immediately after birth or a few hours thereafter. They also encourage mothers to breastfeed their children and they do not give powdered milk as a gift from the companies.
Researchers found that women who use contraception breastfeed for seven months only on average, whereas those who do not use these pills breastfeed for one year and 20 days on average. It is well known that the birth control pill reduces milk production, and the hormones in it may affect the infant.
The study by Dr. Sikkeet and his colleagues is one of the most interesting and comprehensive studies on the topic of breastfeeding in Saudi Arabia. It covered 12,000 households during the period from January to June 1985, during which 2,010 children were born whose progress was followed for two whole years. Thus it was the most comprehensive study to date on this topic as far as I know that has been carried out in Saudi Arabia.
Importance and Benefits of Breastfeeding
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The World Health Organization states that 10 million children die annually in the Third World as the result of stomach diseases and diarrhea, and most of these deaths result from feeding children powdered milk using bottles, which are not properly sterilized, and the milk is diluted with too much water which causes more than 9 million children to suffer severe malnutrition, which leads to a number of diseases and early death. Hence, global health organizations, which take care of children’s affairs and health such as UNICEF and WHO, think that breastfeeding of children by their mothers for two years will save more than 10 million children who die annually because of diarrhea, malnutrition and many other diseases. The Lancet, in an editorial published in 1994, stated that breastfeeding is saving one million children because of what it provides of improved immunity. This is in addition to many millions who could be saved by breastfeeding, who die as a result of diarrhea and other stomach diseases.
Colostrums (which is milk that is produced immediately after birth and continues for a few days) is very important for the child’s life and immunity against disease. I have not seen anyone among the ancients who drew attention to the importance of colostrums apart from the Shaf‘is, who regarded it as obligatory for the mother to breastfeed the newborn colostrums because he could not survive without it in most cases and no other alternative was good. This is an amazing view because all doctors in the past, such as Ibn Sina, Al-Razi, Ibn Al-Jazzar, Al-Qirawani and others all insisted that colostrums was not beneficial to the child and that the mother should refrain from breastfeeding her child immediately after the birth; rather she should start breastfeeding on the third day or thereabouts.
What is most remarkable is that this strange view was widespread in modern medicine, and in hospitals the child would be taken away from his mother for a period between 24 and 48 hours before she was allowed to breastfeed him. This erroneous procedure continued until the 1970s in Europe and until the 1980s in most Third World countries. And perhaps it continues in some hospitals even until today! Colostrums is distinguished by its thin consistency; it is rich in proteins, especially immunoglobulins which provide immunity against disease. The most common type of immunoglobulin in breast milk is type A, which is an important protein for resisting various kinds of bacteria and some kinds of virus, such as the polio virus, measles virus, mumps virus and Japanese brain fever virus.
Another of the good qualities of colostrums is that it contains vitamin A and a concentration of chlorine and sodium. It has an amazing ability to soften the stools of the infant thus enabling him to pass the meconium which, if it were to remain in the intestine, would harm the infant by causing blockage in his intestine. Colostrums also contains a number of white blood cells and lymphatic cells which resist disease, as well as more than 100 enzymes, various minerals, especially zinc, in addition to a number of vitamins.
We can sum up the benefits of breastfeeding as follows:
• It reduces the risk of microbial infection because mother's milk is sterile and ready, whereas bottle milk contains a number of germs, especially in the Third World. Millions of children who die annually could be saved simply by means of breastfeeding.
• Mother’s milk contains antibodies and proteins which are resistant to disease, as well as a large number of white blood cells which are resistant to disease, in addition to more than 100 enzymes.
• Mother’s milk contains an important factor which encourages growth of beneficial bacteria that live in the intestine and protect the child from many digestive diseases. This bacterium is a type of Lactobacillus.
• Mother’s milk contains the important substance interferon which offers protection against viruses.
• Mother's milk contains an antidote to toxins, especially that of the bacteria which causes cholera.
• Mother’s milk does not cause any allergy in the child, whereas the rate of allergic diseases caused by powdered milk is 30 percent of the children who consume it.
• Mother’s milk is low in the amino acid phenylalanine, hence children who suffer the hereditary disorder phenylketonuras can breastfeed from their mothers without any complications and they should never be given powdered milk because it contains a large amount of the amino acid phenylalanine. It is essential to manufacture foods which do not contain this amino acid.
• Mother’s milk is rich in zinc; hence children who suffer from hereditary zinc deficiency do not show any symptoms so long as they are being breastfed by their mothers or by human wet nurses. In such cases it is essential to continue breastfeeding for two whole years. But if the child relies on cow’s milk, then he may suffer a very serious form of the disease and will usually die before the age of two.
• Rates of crib death (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) are relatively higher in children who are bottle-fed, whereas it is very rare in children who do not consume artificial milk.
• Children who are breastfed by their mothers do not suffer constipation or diarrhea, except in rare cases, in comparison with those who are fed artificial milk.
• Breastfeeding helps in the formation of the teeth and makes the jaw straight with no crookedness, whereas being fed with the bottle leads to crookedness and poor growth of the teeth, which necessitates straightening of the teeth later on.
• Breastfeeding protects against a number of serious diseases, such as juvenile diabetes (type II), hardening of the arteries, some types of cancer, and obesity. It reduces the incidence of many serious hereditary diseases such as cystic fibrosis, phenylketonuras, hereditary zinc deficiency and celiac disease which affects the digestive system. All of these diseases occur at lower rates in those who are breastfed by their mothers as compared to those who are fed by bottle.
• Rickets does not occur in children who are breastfed, whereas the occurrence of Rickets is not insignificant among children who are fed with dried cow's milk. That is because the milk of the mother or wet nurse contains a diluted amount of vitamin D which is easily absorbed, unlike powdered cow’s milk.
• Children who are breastfed by their mothers absorb iron better than those who are fed with cow’s milk. That is because of the presence of lactoferrin in breast milk, which is the substance that helps absorption of iron. Mother’s milk also contains another protein which combines with iron and some parts of the cells so that the iron is not left free in the intestine. It has been found that free iron is very important for the growth of some harmful bacteria, hence depriving these bacteria of the iron leads to weakening them and it becomes easy to eliminate them.
• Feeding with powdered milk leads to an increase in the number of hormones in the child’s body, such as insulin, melatonin and neurotensin. All of that is connected to metabolic disease, the incidence of which is higher in children who are fed cow’s milk and rare in those who are breastfed.
• Mother’s milk contains unsaturated fatty acids, both short and long, which are important fatty acids for building the nervous system, whereas cow’s milk contains saturated fatty acids which have to do later on with hardening of the arteries and obesity. Mother’s milk also contains special enzymes which help to break down fats and aid the easy absorption of calcium.
• Mother’s milk contains the necessary minerals in appropriate and complimentary amounts which are easily absorbed, whereas cow’s milk contains larger amounts which are not useful; rather they cause exhaustion to the infant's kidneys because of having to expel them. Hence, children who are fed dried cow's milk are at greater risk of suffering kidney disease than children who are breastfed by their mothers (or wet nurses).
• There are many psychological benefits for the child who feels the warmth of contact with his mother when he takes the breast. A number of studies have shown that children who are not breastfed, and are bottle-fed instead, are at greater risk of psychological and behavioral disorders; and rates of delinquency and criminality, taking drugs, and youth crime are connected, to some extent, to the absence of breastfeeding and feeding the infant powdered milk only.
These are the most important benefits of breastfeeding for the child.
The most important benefits of breastfeeding for the mother and for society are as follows:
Mother’s milk is ready made and sterile, and there is no need for the effort of preparing it.
• During the process of breastfeeding, when the infant sucks on the breast, the pituitary gland is stimulated to secrete the hormone oxytocin. This hormone is very important in restoring the uterus, which is enlarged following birth, to its normal size and position and thus preventing severe bleeding during the postpartum period. It also protects the mother against severe fever during the postpartum period.
• The breastfeeding mother benefits from her entire body returning to its natural state as it had been before pregnancy, therefore breastfeeding helps the mother to keep fit and healthy.
• A great deal of research has proved that breastfeeding plays a protective role in guarding against breast cancer and cancer of the uterus.
• Breastfeeding protects the mother against strokes which may occur during the postpartum period.
• Breastfeeding fully during the first six months is regarded as one of the most important and best means of contraception.
• Breastfeeding saves the mother the cost of dried milk, which may reach thousands of millions of dollars annually. At the beginning of the 1980s developing countries (the third world) imported 2 billion dollars worth of powdered milk every year.
• Breastfeeding saves thousands of millions of dollars annually which are spent on treating the serious diseases and epidemics that result from bottle feeding.
• Breastfeeding saves the lives of millions of children who would die, especially in the Third World, because of non-sterilization, diarrhea and various infections. No price can be put on this because the life of a single child is more precious than all the wealth in the world.
• Breastfeeding saves minors and youth from psychological disorders, which have a negative social and economic impact equivalent to thousands of millions of dollars annually.
• Breastfeeding reduces the rates of numerous serious diseases such as hardening of the arteries, diabetes, breast cancer and cancer of the uterus. Thus it has a far-reaching impact on health and the economy equivalent to thousands of millions of dollars annually. And Allah knows best.
(from Islamic Medicine: The Key to a Better Life by Yusuf Al-Hajj Ahmad, Published by Darussalam)
See details of book: http://goo.gl/9Z4YdQ
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