Breastfeeding Reflection Essay

Our program goal was to encourage young mothers to breastfeed reducing infant’s likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Our team had three members who are Patrick Gallagher, Krystal Robinson and myself. I acknowledge that our topic is broad but we tried our best and structured into three sections and each of us had our own focus. My specific presentation topic was on race and ethnicity factors. I used PowerPoint slides as my main method of teaching along with lecture and educational game.

My main objective of this presentation was to provide an insight and gain a better understanding on how breastfeeding reduces Alzheimer’s disease among young mothers to my students. I did a pre and post test questions to evaluate the students initial knowledge level on my topic and what knowledge they have gained after the presentation and compare it. The students met all of my expectations, which was 70% of students will learn and gain knowledge on my topic which are listed in the three domains of learning Cognitive, Psychomotor and Affective.

I was the last one out of my group members to present. I kept my presentation simple and organize with two sections. The first section was mainly lecture with PowerPoint slides. I began my presentation with the formal introduction, as first impression counts and it is also polite to greet and develop a relationship with your students. After that I led on a question and answer session to engage with the students following with the rest of my lecture slides. The second section was the activity round which I did after my presentation.

I chose Bingo as my educational game because it not only keeps the students engage but also refreshes their memory from the presentation. I thought the game was a success with two bingo winners who went home with a pack of chocolate. In this section, I will be discussing three strengths and three weaknesses of my program. Since my topic is Breastfeeding reduces Alzheimer’s disease, breastfeeding plays an important role. Breastfeeding has numerous advantages not only to the baby but also to the mother.

The first strength is that breast milk provides the ideal nutrition for infants as it has a nearly perfect mix of vitamins, proteins and fats that your baby needs to grow. It promotes positive growth, cognitive development and general health. Breast milk also contains antibodies that help your baby fight off viruses and bacteria. The Second strength would be fewer cases of diarrhea, ear and urine infections, which means less hospitalizations and trips to the doctor. The third strength of breastfeeding is for the mothers. As I have mentioned before, not only does breastfeeding benefits the baby but also the mother.

It helps to lose weight faster after birth, women who breastfeed are less likely to develop uterine, endometrial or ovarian cancer and the uterus returns to normal size more quickly and they experiences less postpartum bleeding. Breastfeeding also reduces the risk of developing Osteoporosis and Alzheimer’s disease. There are strengths as well as weaknesses and some of the weaknesses of my program are lack of knowledge. Most of the women know that breastfeeding provides the most benefits for their child, however they do not know the specific benefits or consequences if they do not breastfeed.

This affects their attitude towards breastfeeding and leads to both formula feeding and inappropriate early introduction of solid foods. One of the corrective measures we can take is inform and educate the new mothers on the benefits of breastfeeding prior to having babies. I think it should be taught in high school in sex education class. The second weakness is among all the races, African Americans have greater barriers to breastfeeding and are also at greater risk of Alzheimer’s disease. According to womenshealth. gov, the number one reason why African

American does not breastfeed is the fear of pain and discomfort. Studies have also shown that African American women are less likely to attend prenatal and childbirth classes, which often covers breastfeeding topics and are linked with increased breastfeeding success. African American are also at greater risk of Alzheimer’s disease as they are more likely to carry the Apo lipoprotein E4 gene, which has been identified as a risk factor for the disease along with greater risk for diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases.

Other gene that increased the risk of Alzheimer’s disease is known as ABCA7, which was found to make African American more likely to develop the disease. Some of the corrective measure we can take in this situation is heighten public awareness through culturally appropriate public educations and campaigns and promote positive images of Alzheimer’s disease to combat stigma and improve societal acceptance. The final measure is introducing the risk factors early on, so people can get diagnosis and treatment earlier, which results in better health outcomes.