Inspiring words by Rabbi Avigdor Miller

This question its subsequent answer was posed to Rabbi Miller at one of his weekly Thursday night question-answer discussions.

Question: Why is it that so many people today neglect the privilege of nursing their babies?

Answer: Mostly it's because of yielding to the environment. Monkey sees, monkey does; that's the truth in most cases. However, some feel it's an inconvenience, they can't run around every day in the department stores because they have to be on time to feed the baby and some have other reasons; most of them not valid. However today it's realized that two big errors are being committed.

One error is, the child is being deprived of what he needs. He's not getting the exact nourishment that's made to order for him. If you feed a child a formula, even the best formula, it doesn't fully make up for mother’s milk. Because no matter how smart the doctors are, they have not yet discovered all the components. Next year or next century, they'll come up with a new element that they discovered in mother’s milk of which children have been deprived all these years. Even the best formula is inferior to Hakadosh Baruch Hu's formula. He's the best physician and He knew how to mix the proper ingredients in the best manner.

The second thing of which they deprive their children is, the feeling of being held close to their mother. And that is not only a physical thing, it deprives the child of a certain security, a certain quality that only this loving embrace can impart. When a mother holds a child close to her breast, she is giving him more than physical nourishment; it's a very important element. That poor little baby wants to cuddle up to somebody, he cuddles up to a piece of plastic and it's cheating him.

Now they take little monkeys away from their mothers, they experiment and they feed them on bottles. And they discovered that they are not as secure, they don't grow up to be proud and confident monkeys as they should become. They discovered that if they leave a bundle of rags in his cage, the little baby monkey goes up to the bundle and huddles up close to it. He's looking for a mothers embrace, it's natural.

It's a need for humanity, they must have that – as part of their food and nourishment, and that's why the child is being deprived.