Breastfeeding is a natural process. God created it, and it is governed by natural laws. When those laws are ignored, breastfeeding becomes difficult and the baby’s health can suffer.
The Bible mentions breastfeeding several times. God promised Abraham and Sarah a son even when they were well past childbearing age. Sarah laughed at first, since she had been barren her entire life, yet God kept His promise. She gave birth to Isaac and breastfed him (Genesis 21:7-8). Hannah was also barren like Sarah, but God blessed her with Samuel, whom she also breastfed (1 Samuel 1:23); though she promised to give her son to God’s service, it was only after she weaned him. When Moses was a baby, he was separated from his biological mother because of the persecution of newborn boys at that time. Through Pharaoh’s daughter, who understood the importance of breastfeeding, God miraculously returned Moses to his own mother to continue nursing him, preparing him for the great mission God had planned (Exodus 2:7-10). So even in these extreme cases, God ensured these babies were breastfed by their own mothers!
Despite this rich history, the truth about breastfeeding and women’s natural capacity to do it is widely overlooked today.
Essential for Mother and Baby
For nine months, a mother protects and nourishes her baby in the womb. After birth, she continues that same work through breastfeeding—a beautiful, God-designed process that has become a lost art in today’s science-driven world.
As Herbert W. Armstrong so often said, sickness and disease are not a normal state; they have a cause. Many mothers do not realize that in the first two years of their child’s life, they hold a vital key to their child’s future health: breastfeeding. Yet many mothers face challenges and unknowingly make the process harder on themselves.
One of the most common reasons mothers stop breastfeeding is that they cannot get their newborn to latch onto the breast. Understanding this one critical skill can make all the difference.
A proper latch is essential for both mother and baby. It ensures the baby receives adequate nutrition. It also boosts the baby’s immunity: Breast milk naturally contains antibodies, immune cells and bioactive factors that protect the infant.
By contrast, non-human milk undermines these benefits, can make latching harder, and put the baby’s health at risk.
Skin-to-skin
Skin-to-skin contact and the release of oxytocin after birth strengthen the bond between mother and child and lay the groundwork for successful breastfeeding. Research shows that immediately after birth, skin-to-skin contact reduces crying, improves mother-infant interaction, and supports a good latch (Nestedbean.com).
Touch is the first sense to develop in fetal life. By the second trimester, babies are already sensitive to touch and will move in response to pressure on the mother’s abdomen. The sense of touch—already familiar from the womb, where all the baby’s cells were bathed in warm, moving fluid—is activated again through skin-to-skin contact after birth. In their mother’s arms, they feel safe and secure as they begin adjusting to life outside the womb.
Research shows that skin-to-skin contact triggers what is called the stepping reflex in newborns, which plays a major role in breastfeeding (Barbara Wilson-Clay, The Breastfeeding Atlas). One thing this reflex does is help the baby locate the breast. Babies who receive this contact right away are more likely to find the breast with ease.
During skin-to-skin contact, the Montgomery glands—located on the areola, the dark area around the nipple—release a scent that draws the baby toward the breast. Since 2007, when I began helping mothers with breastfeeding, I have watched this happen again and again. When a baby is placed on a mother’s bare chest, the infant immediately begins sucking on his fist, opens his mouth, moves his tongue as if he is already eating, and crawls toward the breast.
This behavior connects back to feeding in the womb. While still in the uterus, fetuses regularly swallow amniotic fluid, developing their digestive systems and learning to suck and search for food (biologicalnurturing.com). As Teresa Pitman of La Leche League International writes, “Newborns initially need to feed often just as they did in the womb.”
Immunity Boost
Breast milk is a living substance. It contains more than 700 different bacterial species—and colostrum contains even more. Beyond nutrition, breast milk holds between 2,000 and 4,000 distinct components, including customized antibodies, live white blood cells, hormones and complex prebiotics.
Because of these bioactive elements—which are tailored specifically to your baby—breastfed infants have a lower risk of lung and gastrointestinal infections. The live white blood cells and antibodies in breast milk directly fight infections. They coat the baby’s digestive system, respiratory tract and nasal passages, neutralizing harmful pathogens before they can enter the baby’s body (healthychildren.org).
Maternal antibodies in breast milk are especially powerful because a mother shares immunity from the specific infections she has personally encountered, giving her baby a personalized defense (La Leche League International). The composition of breast milk shifts with every feeding throughout the day, and it adapts as the baby grows.
Because breastfeeding works through the two-way interaction of latching, your baby actually helps shape what is in each feeding (Breastfeeding and Human Lactation). During feeding, the baby’s saliva mixes with breast milk in the infant’s mouth, producing a biochemical reaction that generates antibacterial compounds. Pathogens from the baby’s saliva communicate with your immune system, prompting it to produce antibodies that target those specific microbes—especially when the baby is sick. Your body detects what your baby needs and responds—every single feeding.
Among the thousands of components in breast milk, human milk oligosaccharides (hmos) are particularly important. They feed beneficial gut bacteria that are essential for building the baby’s long-term immune function. They also help regulate the baby’s immune responses, reducing the risk of allergies and ongoing inflammation. This transfer of maternal immunity through breastfeeding is critical during infancy, when the baby’s immune system is still developing.
Knowing to Latch
According to Nikki Lee, a founder of La Leche League International, natural births with fewer medical interventions help babies breastfeed more effectively. When no pain medications or other unnecessary interventions are used during labor, babies show a remarkable ability to latch and suck (Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Breastfeeding Therapy).
I can personally confirm this. In my 11 years at one of the major hospitals in Maryland, I saw the difference firsthand. Babies born without pain medications or interventions behave completely differently from those who were exposed to them. A baby should not need to clear drugs from his system before learning to suck properly.
The Breastfeeding Mother’s Guide to Making More Milk, by Diana West and Lisa Marasco, confirms that babies are born knowing how to suck—but pain medications interfere with that ability. When sucking is impaired, babies develop disorganized sucking patterns and turn to the bottle, which requires less effort.
The stakes are significant: The United States could save $14 billion in health-care costs if mothers received proper breastfeeding support and education. More importantly, an average of 741 babies each year would survive past their first birthday if they had been breastfed (“Risks of Not Breastfeeding,” Lactation Education Resources).
A Key Protein
Lactoferrin is a key protein in breast milk. It is most concentrated in colostrum and continues to be present in mature milk, providing ongoing protection.
In the baby’s body, lactoferrin serves several functions. It binds to iron molecules that pathogens need to survive, it destroys the cell walls of harmful bacteria, and it prevents viruses from attaching to and entering host cells. It supports immune cell activity and acts as an anti-inflammatory agent. It also functions as a prebiotic, encouraging the growth of beneficial lactic acid-producing bacteria in the gut. Lactoferrin also regulates how iron is absorbed in the intestine, preventing iron overload while making sure the baby’s body has enough iron to grow.
Breast milk is easy for infants to digest because it is a natural, living substance—like a fresh fruit or vegetable that contains all the enzymes needed to break it down.
Human milk contains human growth factors, unlike formula, which is based on non-human growth factors. The composition of breast milk changes with every feeding and continues to develop as your baby grows.
Other Benefits
Beyond immunity, latching also supports your baby’s facial development. The muscles used during nursing grow stronger over time.
Breastfeeding is especially important for jaw development. The lower jaw is less than 40 percent formed at birth in a full-term baby and needs significant support to develop properly. Infant bones are still moldable during this period, and the natural movements of sucking help shape them (Wilson-Clay, op cit). The lower jaw needs more than 60 percent of its development to be completed after birth, and breastfeeding supports that process.
With consistent breastfeeding, the lower jaw aligns with the upper jaw by around age 2. Research also shows that latching during the first five months helps align the jaws in time for the arrival of baby teeth. This alignment supports healthy chewing when solid foods begin around six months, encourages clear speech as the child grows, and sets the stage for well-aligned teeth.
This is all in addition to the broader health benefits for both mother and baby. Natural births without unnecessary interventions give babies the best start for this entire developmental sequence (West and Marasco, op cit).
Your Milk Supply
Your body is designed to produce enough milk to meet your baby’s needs. Your milk supply works beautifully when nothing disrupts the supply-and-demand cycle of lactation. What you need most is confidence in that process.
Breastfeeding is a demand-driven process: Your body produces milk based on how often and how completely the breasts are emptied. The more effectively your baby feeds, the more milk you will make. This is true even for mothers of twins or triplets. Your body will produce what your baby needs. When a baby breastfeeds less, the body produces less—it simply responds to what is being asked of it.
In A Breastfeeding Owner’s Manual, Nikki Lee explains that while babies in the womb receive nourishment continuously, newborns outside the womb feed periodically—typically 8 to 15 times in a 24-hour period. Feeding frequently keeps supply high. If milk is not removed, a protein called the Feedback Inhibitor of Lactation (fil) builds up in the breast and signals the body to slow production. Once demand drops, especially in the early weeks, a drop in supply follows.
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
Breastfeeding is a true gift from mother to child. It protects babies from illness, provides perfectly balanced nutrition, and deepens the bond between mother and baby. It is tailor-made for your baby’s changing needs at every stage, offering unmatched immunity, ideal nutrients, and a closeness that cannot be replicated. It is the foundation of a healthy life.
King David wrote that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). God not only created human beings—He gave us everything we need to thrive. Breastfeeding is one of those gifts, built into human life by design. It is up to us to make sure these truths are not forgotten.